Real Lesbians Я Men! PLUS: Andy Carvin timeline: Digital Idiocy

As "cloud computing" and the "infographics" movements press forward in a veiled effort to herd the sheeple, the lines are being drawn for an intellectual showdown that could end up in the great dumbdown of society via the internet.

A Scottish university last night suspended the computer privileges of a male American student who set up the "Gay Girl In Damascus" hoax blog purporting to be written by a gay woman detained by Syrian authorities.

Slate reports that the editor of lesbian news website Lezgetreal.com — who encouraged Arraf and republished her blog entries — was a man named Bill Graber who used the name Paula Brooks as an online persona.

Graber confirmed his identity to The Associated Press, saying "LezGetReal was not meant to be deceitful or con anyone."

Andy Carvin should have titled his storify article "How to Make A Complete Fool of The Media" - check out his blog and see all the credibility being lost as we make our way faster and faster toward digital idiocy!

"A Gay Girl in Damascus" should teach the media (as well as the legions of bloggers who fell for the Amina Arraf tale) the other part of the lesson it failed to learn from the likes of Jayson Blair (who reimagined himself as a "reality enhancer"), Janet Cooke, and their ilk: CHECK and RE-CHECK!