I didn't think it was real - if you read the whole post, I used words like "snippet", "info-treat", "forwarded item", "dubious claim", etc. - communicating that I thought it was doubtful. My concern was that it reflected a popular, albeit ignorant, pining for this type of approach by certain elements in America.
It is like the tainted blankets sent to native Americans. The vast majority of the disease in American native populations was through accidental transmission through incidental contact, rather than intention infection. Once the disease got into the unprotected population, it was transmitted by normal means.
While it wasn't real common for intentional infection to occur, it happened a couple of times. So, if someone posts a pining notice about sending diseased blankets over to Iraq because "it worked with the American Indians", it really doesn't matter whether it happened or not, or if happened rarely, if all one is commenting on the mindset as I was. |
