ACTION: How to battle this (and any other) hoax

I know many people come to this blog to get the lowdown on the Hampstead satanic abuse hoax, but if you’re only reading our (incredibly erudite and informative) posts, you’re only getting half the story.

We have a lively and fascinating group of regular commenters who freely share their insights and experiences—and they create the kind of dialogue that transforms us from a mere blog into an active and growing community.

Today, for example, commenter Justin Sanity shared his decades of experience in this wise and thoughtful plan of action to build an effective anti-hoax community:

1) Confront lies and liars wherever you encounter them. Online, it helps to have as big a posse as possible responding to outbreaks of BS.

2) Identify the ego-stroke rewards of primary disseminators and target those for derision. Many Truther idiots revere “whistleblowers” and fancy themselves to be one. However, a whistleblower is an insider who belongs to or belonged to the entity whose beans they are spilling, and NONE of these idiots are that. They are merely rumor-mongers and should be confronted with that fact.

3) Social shunning can be very effective – not just online but offline as well. When people around you start talking about Illuminati or other irrational topics, cut them off with a curt declaration that you don’t want to hear that BS and you won’t tolerate their company if they insist on spewing it.

4) Teach young children that rumor-mongering hurts people. Inoculate the up-coming potential crop of rumor-mongers by teaching them NOW how wrong & hurtful it is. Your own kids, younger siblings, nieces, nephews, grand-kids, etc.

5) The real story is THEM and the corrupting effect of their irresponsible rumor-mongering on your society. It’s not about what Ella’s kids did or did not say, nor is it really about SRA – although it is important to continue educating others on that topic. Aaronovitch’s piece on SRA was good, but try to recruit more media people to do pieces on how “the Truth movement” is a load of crap, or how they’ve attempted to co-opt the cause of CSA for their own personal gain, or about loony/pathetic self-professed but false “whistleblowers” in general.

2) Satire kills BS dead. I’ll never forget how successful the American comedian campaign against Anita Bryant was, in stopping her fear-mongering about homosexuals. Have you seen this video by Al Yankovic? Have you shared it with all your friends & relatives? Why not?

Not wishing to downplay the harm that the people of Hampstead have and probably will experience from this, but you’ve inadvertently been handed an opportunity to build a community of bullshit-busters that could benefit your entire nation. Network with other Hampsteaders, recruit as many as you can for participation in the above points. Together you can make a real difference.

Many thanks, Justin!

Now, let’s get on that.