Gary Webb killed himself. He was divorced, unemployed, and his professional reputation was ruined. His reporting on the CIA importing cocaine was retracted after it was fact checked, and his editor would not stand behind the reporting.
But his article was published and is still available to read. The idea that the CIA assassinates people 20 years after they “spill the secrets” stretches credulity. Makes since he’d punch his own ticket.
This meme irritates me because it depends on the misinformation that suicides are unusual or suspicious. Suicides are common as dirt. To the tune of like 40K people/ year in the US. It’s a major public health crisis but gets ignored because of taboo and because it’s a gun issue.
yesman@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Gary Webb killed himself. He was divorced, unemployed, and his professional reputation was ruined. His reporting on the CIA importing cocaine was retracted after it was fact checked, and his editor would not stand behind the reporting.
But his article was published and is still available to read. The idea that the CIA assassinates people 20 years after they “spill the secrets” stretches credulity. Makes since he’d punch his own ticket.
The idea that he was shot twice “in the back of the head” is a myth. He did shoot himself twice, but that’s not so unusual. 42% of gunshot and penetrative wounds to the brain are survivable.
This meme irritates me because it depends on the misinformation that suicides are unusual or suspicious. Suicides are common as dirt. To the tune of like 40K people/ year in the US. It’s a major public health crisis but gets ignored because of taboo and because it’s a gun issue.
greenbit@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
This meme doesn’t claim suicides suspicious, as it has already become a trope that something clearly unsuspicious can also be claimed as a suicide