The journalism community is reeling this week after the release    of a Columbia Journalism    Reviewreporton Rolling Stones now-infamous UVA    rape story. And, whatever else might be said on the matter, you    cannot escape the fact that this is one case where    hand-wringing and soul-searching actually is called for. This    story has cast a black shadow over journalism and set back    hard-won progress in recent years in bringing the crime of    campus rape out of the shadows.  
    Oddly enough, conservatives are celebrating with high fives and    wild excitement. Their happiness at the retraction of this    story doesnt appear to be based upon the singular idea that an    injustice was done to particular individuals, or that a fine    public universitys reputation (ahem)    was wrongly besmirched. (Although they do pay lip service to    that.) In reality, conservative jubilation over the Rolling    Stone debacle is about something altogether more discomfiting:    They evidently have staked out the position that rape doesnt    happen very often and that women routinely lie about it. They    are saying that the idea of rape being a problem on campus is a    false liberal narrative.  
    This is just one of a handful of recent controversies that are    being bundled into a new meme about liberal lies and false    narratives. Heres the thoughtful conservative    punditAnn Coulterwith a short list:  
      Many months, several million wasted taxpayer dollars and one      cops career later, even Eric Holders Justice Department      finally admitted that the whole Hands Up, Dont Shoot story      was bunk.    
      After the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan four years ago,      Bill Nye the (self-proclaimed) Science Guy gravely informed      CNN viewers, This is all bad and very scary.  You know,      its nothing but danger. Its nothing but very serious, very,      very long-term problems. Wired magazine recently reported      that, in the four years since the disaster, more than 96      percent of food, fish and agriculture throughout Fukushima      has contained less than one-sixth of the radiation permitted      in food imported to Europe.    
      Lena Dunham, star of HBOs Girls, was forced to retract her      autobiographical account of having been raped by a campus      conservative named Barry.    
      The alleged rapist of Columbia Universitys mattress girl      finally released her alluring texts to him, and now we all      know she was a desperate, spurned lover, not a rape victim.    
      Sabrina Rubin Erdelys much-celebrated Rolling Stone story      about a fraternity gang-rape at the University of Virginia      turned out to be based on one poor, sad girl seeking      attention by creating a fake online boyfriend and fantasizing      her own gang-rape.    
      This is Ann Coulter, though. Surely more reasonable      conservatives arent taking this view. After all, just      because a single story turns out not to be true, common sense      says that it doesnt mean that all such stories arent true.      Its one thing for right-wing bomb throwers to feed these      absurdities to their audience but surely serious journalists      have to be aware that one bad example does not refute an      entire thesis.    
      Think again.Heres Brit Hume of Fox News, spitting      fireon Monday:    
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