I'm glad somebody finally researched this urban legend: the Vietnam vet getting spat upon by hateful antiwar protesters. Good for SLATE for writing about it, even though it won't likely get touched in the mainstream press, because it too satisfyingly fits the rightist stereotypes of antiwar protesters. I do like how, while researching the story, the writer found that antiwar protesters were themselves spat upon by pro-war counter demonstrators. That fits their politics of hate approach better.
Next up (I hope), somebody disproving the urban legend of the loggers getting maimed and/or killed by spiked trees. I don't think it ever happened, although, once again, it falls neatly into rightist perceptions, the environmental bogeyman, the eco-terrorist. Loggers get maimed and/or killed by lots of things; it's dangerous work. I don't think tree spikes were ever the culprit. Never mind that, as a tactic, it wasn't the best, since it served as admirably useful PR against radical environmentalism.
I'm not a radical environmentalist, but I don't buy the tree-spiking story. I tried to get the Straight Dope to inquire about it, but Cecil blew me off. Dick.
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