Mrs. Pope (and other hoaxes)

Xymphora published a lovely rumor that John-Paul II did cleave unto a secret wife and begat a couple of covert kids. While this claim has an endearing novelty -- a heterosexual priest, fancy that! -- I must expose the story as a probable hoax.

The original source for this assertion was a post by a DU participant code-named "emad," who seems to be a dame who has made a habit of light-hearted fibs in a conspiratorial vein.

PULL BACK TO WIDE VIEW: How should we react to hoaxes of this sort? Nobody appreciates a good leg-pull more than I do. In fact, during the 1990s, I started to put together a book titled Red Phoenix Rising: Bill Clinton and the Illuminati, written with an eye toward acquiring an endorsement from Texe Marrs. (Got a couple of chapters into the project. Wish I still had that material; it might be worth a laugh.)

Fun is fun. On the other hand...now that we've allowed hoaxers to cajole us into a $200,000,000,000 war we cannot win, this brand of fun has less amusement value.

I suppose we must judge the methodology by either intentions or results. When Virginia Woolf and five others pretended to be a Middle-Eastern potentate and his retinue, their only intention was to rib the assorted British high-and-mighties who fell for the ruse. The Tichborne claimant, by contrast, was not at all funny. The same principle applies to politics: The Lazlo Toth letters were great; the Niger forgeries are a continuing horror.

Into which category do we place the fellow who tried to establish an email account in the name of Prince William? Or that fellow who pretends to be the bass player for the Eagles? Your call.