An Inside Joke?

June 18, 2008 on 2:13 pm | In Insanity |

I was reading a Yahoo news article this morning about American abuse of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and something weird presented itself.

As you may know, Yahoo news articles occasionally contain links within the document. Read a story about Ricky Nelson, you’ll find that his name might be underlined, and clicking on that link can bring you a bio of him. Read a story about Washington DC and click on the word “Washington DC” you might get the latest Beltway news. So imagine my surprise when I read this abuse article and find this paragraph:

“One Iraqi prisoner, identified only as Yasser, reported being subjected to electric shocks three times and being sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press. He would not allow a full rectal exam.“

“Rectal exam” was the link. Not only that, the only other links in the entire article were in the first paragraph for “Abu Ghraib” and “Guantanamo.” Three words in the article deemed important enough for additional linking, and one of them is “rectal exam.”

So, of course, I’m intrigued what the hell would come up when you investigate further. I mean, if there are additional news reports about rectal exams, enough for it to be a commonly searched term in Yahoo news, I want to know about it. So I click it and this comes up:

I know what you’re thinking: What the hell? I was thinking the same thing myself. Yahoo news must be playing a prank on us, using a horrible story about torture to make a lame butt joke.

Good job, you soulless bastards.