(Welcome crazy murderous Newsweek readers (oops, they just linked to someone who linked, it was other sites that quoted out of context) (by way of my pal Rex, thanks again, srsly)! I'm no longer approving comments on this post, as it has been corrupted by a non-target audience of crazy people who aren't my friends or even trusted haters. I'm no longer sure the video is fake, but I'm glad my first reaction was to believe it was: it means that despite everything I still believe people are good at heart and don't hurt puppies. Now let's none of us think about this again.)
(Update: I don't support the video, I was just making a prediction about what we would learn about it. There's really no debate here, because we all feel the same (disgusted) about what is portrayed. I have my prediction and you have yours, and we'll just see what happens when these people are inevitably on the TV news, which they will be.)
(In regards to this video that everyone saw today and freaked out about.)
It's so clearly fake!! Still a sick joke, but very obviously fake. We will all know this soon when those dudes go on The Today Show, if they're not killed first.
The #1 rule of the internet (The Ockham's Razor of the internet!) is that if you have the slightest suspicion that something isn't real, it isn't.
"...if you have the slightest suspicion that something isn't real, it isn't."
But I just sent off my $225...does that mean I'm NOT going to wind up with a ten-inch penis?
Posted by: Josh Rosen | March 03, 2008 at 06:16 PM
Come on. This is real. Go to liveleak and watch other torture videos of animals from soldiers. Support the troops is a liberal joke. Troops are undereducated saps of society who can't get a better job so we employ them in genocide operations. This is just more proof of that fact.
Posted by: Ron | March 04, 2008 at 01:22 PM
It looked real to me. Why be apologists for these bastards?
Posted by: Debby Partridge | March 04, 2008 at 01:33 PM
The "yi yi yi" sounded real? It sounded like it was pulled from an old Roadrunner cartoon and the entire backdrop looked fake.
Posted by: Charles | March 04, 2008 at 02:02 PM
@Debby Partriage
As a general rule, if a video looks real there is a good chance that it isn't.
Most people have become used to the fantasy physics of movies and tv to the point that they are taken for how things like sound actually travel.
One of the easier ways to tell if a grainy amaturish video is real or not is to see if it feels 'off' compared to other things you see on TV etc. If it doesn't feel right or looks surreal, then it might actually be real. If everything feels right then you should question it.
Posted by: Neeneko | March 04, 2008 at 02:02 PM
I've been making videos for 20 years. I've looked at this thing as close to frame-by-frame as I can manage. It's possible the dog is already dead, but its body moves naturally on the backswing ... not like a stuffed dog. The dog's passive behavior while being scruffed is normal for a puppy, as anyone who has ever observed a mother dog and puppy would know.
If there was a substitution with a fake dog on the backswing in the moment when one can't see the dog, these soldiers have very sophisticated skills in camera work and editing.
As I said, it's possible it's a fake. But at this point, I'd guess it's real.
Posted by: JS OBrien | March 04, 2008 at 02:04 PM
I think the yelps are faked, possibly made by someone in the background, but when Motari leans back to throw the puppy, you can see the puppy's lower body jerk up and forward in a way that a stuffed animal or already dead puppy could not.
Posted by: Jessica | March 04, 2008 at 02:22 PM
I think the yelps are faked, possibly made by someone in the background, but when Motari leans back to throw the puppy, you can see the puppy's lower body jerk up and forward in a way that a stuffed animal or already dead puppy could not.
Posted by: jx | March 04, 2008 at 02:23 PM
Your resolute support for this vid (and the perps) leaves detail missing as to exactly why you think it is fake. Give detail or risk remaining nebulous and of unconvincing opinion.
Posted by: Ramses | March 04, 2008 at 04:22 PM
I'm with JS on this one.
And don't even try to tell me the Kirsten Dunst video isn't real.
Posted by: Bobo | March 04, 2008 at 04:22 PM
The way one of them said "That was mean," sounded more like a sick bastard who didn't really care than an actor who would pretend to care.
I may not like it, but I think it's real.
Posted by: Jenn | March 04, 2008 at 07:25 PM
Too many Russo books makes me correct you: it's Occam's. Which you probably already knew and were being irreverent, but I thought, in my snobbery I'd point out anyway. Also, I wish it were fake.
Posted by: jane | March 04, 2008 at 07:37 PM