I call bull$hit.
If you bent the circled area below, it should be clean metal showing.
IMHO, the only way you caused that bend is if you smoked peyote then drove through a time/space continuum vortex that gave it enough time to rust.
I consider myself an expert when it comes to examining fresh suspension damage. My wife has an uncanny ability to hit the biggest, deepest potholes no matter how far off to the side they are. Sometimes she sees them, and then by looking at them she inadvertently drives into them. Curbs too. It used to drive me crazy, now it's funny. We get an alignment every 2-3 months, no kidding.