(Community Matters) In today’s Washington Post, the story of Princeton Professor Allen’s receipt of an email suggesting Senator Obama was Muslim and her decision to pursue the source of these rumors, which have been widely proven false:
That search showed that the first mention of the e-mail on the Internet had come more than a year earlier. A participant on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com posted a copy of the e-mail on Jan. 8, 2007
Allen discovered that theories about Obama’s religious background had circulated for many years on the Internet. And that the man who takes credit for posting the first article to assert that the Illinois senator was a Muslim is Andy Martin. Martin was trying to launch a Senate bid against Obama . . . .
[Most discussion & momentum for the internet rumors appear to have genesis from FreeRepublic.com among conservative & libertarians, called freepers.] Allen counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama’s religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities.
Community Matters 