Counter narratives
Item #44 “Rafting In Costa Rica”
(http://mith.umd.edu/arguing/admin/items/show/48)
At first glance, this photograph may resemble a picturesque scene of friends bonding in the great outdoors. After taking a closer look however, it seems as if half of the purple raft has disappeared beneath the water. Why is this? In the caption, it says that the group is on a rafting trip in Costa Rica. This is true, but there is one missing piece of information the creator of the picture did not mention: there is a hidden behemoth swimming directly below the waves. The dark portion of the water on the left-hand side of the picture shows an unidentifiable creature pushing against the first raft. If you look at the facial expressions of three of the girls on the first raft, you will notice that they look disturbed. The raft is listing to the left and is undeniably being pulled underwater by the animal creating the dark spot in the water. Following the raft with the scared girls is a second raft. The second raft has clearly seen the turbulent waves around the first raft and has veered towards the right in order to avoid being capsized. They have also seen their comrades on the first raft dealing with some threat that is pulling the back of their craft into the water. It all makes sense now.
Item #96 “Friends in A Dorm Room”
(http://mith.umd.edu/arguing/admin/items/show/96)
This picture serves as the alibi for the alleged kidnapper of Coconut, leader and founder of the organization called “The Coconut Club”. Seventy-two hours before this picture was taken, the promotional photo shoot for the organizations new magazine concluded. The only remnant of that event can be found here http://mith.umd.edu/arguing/admin/items/show/46. Compare the two pictures. In the item 96, there are five individuals. There are seven individuals, including the coconut, in item 46. Who are the two missing members? Well, Coconut is the first, and Catherine is the second. When Coconut wound up missing, the first suspect was Catherine because she was the only other person absent from item 96. Now let’s take a closer look at item 96. If you look at the bed in the background, you will see a teddy bear. Turn your attention to the left and you will see a small, brown, Coconut-shaped figure. That is Coconut. That leaves one more question to be answered: where is Catherine? Counting from the left hand side of the picture, look between ladies three and four. Between them is a dark coat: the same coat that Catherine wears wherever she goes. The figure behind ladies three and four is undeniably Catherine. After she placed Coconut on the bed, she bent over to tie her shoe and the photographer didn’t catch her in the picture. Therefore, Catherine is innocent and Coconut was never kidnapped.
While conspiracy theorists may see a hidden bloodthirsty marine creature beneath the whitecaps, any sane person can see that this is not the case. If you see a snapshot of a group of adventurous travelers taking a rafting trip down a river through the forest, you are seeing the true picture. The rafts are traveling through a shallow rapid with many hidden rocks and large dips. The back of the first raft, while some say it is being swallowed by a beast, is blocked from view due to one of these low points in the stretch of river. The dark shadow in the water is just that, a shadow. The tree on the left of the picture creates a shadow over the water that is choppy and scattered, nothing like the imagined behemoth of the deep. Even if there were no evidence of this tree casting its shadow, the water in the image is far too shallow to be home to such a creature. If the girls in the raft appear disturbed in any way, it is because they are trying desperately not to fall out of the craft and into the turbulent water. Those in the second raft are readying themselves to brave the rapids ahead rather than avoid a lurking monster. Anyone who sees anything different in this picture is clearly quite paranoid and should never go white water rafting for risk of a stress-induced heart attack.