Note to the religious right: auto-replace is not your friend

[Carlos_E]

Auto-correct can be a very helpful feature of any word-processing program. But when conservatives use it, they run the risk of embarrassing themselves.

Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change “Democratic Party” to “Democrat Party.” This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.

But the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy. The group is, after all, pretty far out there.

The problem, of course, is that “gay” does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. My friend Kyle reported this morning that sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials over the weekend. The AFA ran the story, but only after the auto-correct had “fixed” the article.

That means — you guessed it — the track star was renamed “Tyson Homosexual.” The headline on the piece read, “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.” Readers learned:

Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.

His wind-aided 9.85 seconds was a fairly cut-and-dry performance compared to what happened a day earlier. On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat and had to scramble to finish fourth, then in his quarterfinal a couple of hours later, ran 9.77 to break the American record that had stood since 1999. […]

Homosexual didn’t get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal, but by the halfway mark he had established a comfortable lead. He slowed somewhat over the final 10 meters-nothing like the way-too-soon complete shutdown that almost cost him Saturday. Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: “A little fatigued.”

Now, the AFA has since changed the article back to the way it was originally written by the AP reporter, but don’t worry, Kyle got the screen-grab before the AFA edited the piece back.

[Carlos_E]

[gixxerboy1]

lol too much. I guess proof reading takes to much time

[RA]

Im not sure what the hell this story has to do with the religious right but it is pretty funny.

[Carlos_E]

Im not sure what the hell this story has to do with the religious right but it is pretty funny.

They probably have a bot that searches AP for the word gay and automatically post it on their site with the "word correction."

[Nicotine]

that's funny
if i was that tyson guy, i'd sue....just cuz it's the american thing to do.

[Amorphic]

lol. funny but so ridiculous

[bigt10]

lol silly. but serious why do people have a problem with homo sexual and homo sexual couples.

I have nothing against it. actually most gay men i know are more intelligent, more successful, and in general much nicer open people who look after them selves better.

It is someones choice to this day i dont get why homo sexuals get flamed.

What people do in their own privacy is up to them and thats about all i dont agree with :P.

lol jokes article though.