Great thread, and excellent examples.
The thing about human nature in general, is that there is a subset of people who literally believe everything they either read or hear, and it doesn't have to be an actual hoax.
Gilligan's Island is one example. On page 186 of the book Inside Gilligan's Island by Sherwood Schwarz he mentions that 10 weeks or so into the show one Commander Doyle of the Coast Guard came to his office and showed him some telegrams of people demanding the coast guard launch a rescue for these poor people who are shipwrecked on an island before they starve to death.
Mr. Schwartz was dumbfounded, as there were even laugh tracks included in the show. The reason for the commander to show him the telegrams in person was because he didn't think Mr. Schwartz would actually believe there were real telegrams if he didn't see them for himself.
At the time, Mr. Schwartz noted to himself that this subset of humans who would believe anything could be exploited purposefully in the future, for political or other gain. And I believe he gave consideration to the possibility...
A more recent example of utilizing this subset of people, is an advertisement created by artist Adam Padilla:
![[Image: DIHJ1ZeUMAAfsOk?format=jpg]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIHJ1ZeUMAAfsOk?format=jpg)
This was a hoax, but people were running around discussing the horror of marketing vape gear to infants. Later people found out that Adam Padilla has Pfizer as one of his big name clients, although he denies Pfizer pharmaceutical had anything to do with his creating this meme as a hoax.
If Pfizer DID pay for it as a means to blacken the name of the vaping industry, it was just one way to utilize those who will believe anything to their advantage.
I'm willing to say, the greatest majority of people WILL believe anything, without either checking for facts nor are willing to listen to those of us who do check facts. Facts for most people are mere hindrances to their own confirmation biases.
The thing about human nature in general, is that there is a subset of people who literally believe everything they either read or hear, and it doesn't have to be an actual hoax.
Gilligan's Island is one example. On page 186 of the book Inside Gilligan's Island by Sherwood Schwarz he mentions that 10 weeks or so into the show one Commander Doyle of the Coast Guard came to his office and showed him some telegrams of people demanding the coast guard launch a rescue for these poor people who are shipwrecked on an island before they starve to death.
Mr. Schwartz was dumbfounded, as there were even laugh tracks included in the show. The reason for the commander to show him the telegrams in person was because he didn't think Mr. Schwartz would actually believe there were real telegrams if he didn't see them for himself.
At the time, Mr. Schwartz noted to himself that this subset of humans who would believe anything could be exploited purposefully in the future, for political or other gain. And I believe he gave consideration to the possibility...
A more recent example of utilizing this subset of people, is an advertisement created by artist Adam Padilla:
This was a hoax, but people were running around discussing the horror of marketing vape gear to infants. Later people found out that Adam Padilla has Pfizer as one of his big name clients, although he denies Pfizer pharmaceutical had anything to do with his creating this meme as a hoax.
If Pfizer DID pay for it as a means to blacken the name of the vaping industry, it was just one way to utilize those who will believe anything to their advantage.
I'm willing to say, the greatest majority of people WILL believe anything, without either checking for facts nor are willing to listen to those of us who do check facts. Facts for most people are mere hindrances to their own confirmation biases.