According to the Webster Dictionary, the term "Debunk" means "to expose the sham or falseness of". People started using the term "bunk" at the beginning of the 20th century when, in 1820, a congressman from North Carolin, Felix Walker, gave an irrelevant and very long-winded speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. He admitted to his colleagues, “I shall not be speaking to the House, but to Buncombe,” referring to Buncombe County in his home district. This is the pivotal point in history where, after decades, we were finally blessed with the term "Debunked" when the phrase "Speaking to Buncombe" was born and commonly used in political circles to refer to pointless oratory. 

The phrase “Speaking to Buncombe” continued on and was widdled down in the late 1830s, to “speaking Bunkum,” when, by the 1840s, the term "bunkum" stood on its own just to be reduced, even more, to "bunk" in 1893 when the humorist Finley Peter Dunne used it to characterize two replicas of Irish villages at the Chicago World’s Fair. One of them, he says, “is the real Irish village,” while “the other one...is a sort of bunk.” i.e., fake.

A little less than 25 years later, "debunk" was first used in print for the act of taking the "bunk" out of something. Today, "debunk" itself often suggests that something is not merely untrue, but also a sham; one can simply disprove a myth, but if it is "debunked" the implication is that it was grossly exaggerated or a foolish claim. The term has become part of our daily political vernacular. Especially with the 2020 Election and COVID-19 Pandemic "conspiracy theories" circulating on our social media platforms. 

Sadly, however, much like other terms in American rhetoric, the term "debunked" has lost its value. People often shout "debunked" in the face of an individual who has presented them with what they believe to be a conspiracy theory.  Meanwhile, the so-called "fact-checkers" in the mainstream media spend all day "debunking" stories they believe to be false and a hoax.  

But what happens when the conspiracy theory or hoax is exposed as truth? 

In February 2020, The Washington Post, “debunked” Republican Senator Tom Cotton’s claim that the COVID-19 virus may have originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.  

The original headline from February 2020, “Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked,” but, with the recent release of the Anthony Fauci Emails the headline was modified June 1, 2021, to read, “Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus fringe theory that scientists have disputed.”

Adding a note to the bottom of the correction: 

“Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Senator Tom Cotton regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term ‘debunked’ and The Post’s use of ‘conspiracy theory' has been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus,”.

What a clever little way to say "The Washington Post is sorry for "debunking" a theory that was not "debunked"!

Further examples can be found in a January 2021 article published by USA Today, "fact-checkers", where they "debunk" the "...rumors ...on social media about a pandemic constructed by 'global elites,' to install a police state, [called] 'Operation Lockstep'" which was released by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2010, Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development, that, in fact, includes a section called "Lock Step."

The article goes on to "debunk" the Operation LockStep theory by referencing other mainstream media outlets whom they claim also "debunked" it which, after the first example provided to you above, I hope by now, you are able to see is not a reliable method for fact-finding or resource gathering. 

What is more, the article actually attempts to "debunk" this theory by providing a link to the actual planning report released by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2010 - which LITERALLY proves that the claim is 100% true. 

Basically, in an attempt to "debunk", the "debunkers" "debunked" themselves!

Terror of the Woods encourages our readers to always review and research the resources provided to you in any of our articles and debunk anything claimed yourself. 

A juxtaposition of the two examples and supporting resources above, this edition of Exposed, leaves you with this one question...

What is more "debunked" -- the theory that the Rockefeller Foundation Lock Step "Scenario" was actually a plan for the, now widely acknowledged, leak of COVID-19 from a Wuhan Lab in China and coerce a police state, or that the mainstream media is a reliable "debunker", a.k.a. "fact-checker"?