Back wash? Hog wash!
On Tuesday I published a post about a great sadness that many on twitter shared. Folks commented and tweeted that it helped to know that we were sharing in this emotion.
Last night, whilst many of us were watching the amazing opening of the Paralympic Games and seeing incredible talents of disabled people, it unravelled that the story behind the sadness was fake. I do not know what is true from the story beyond there is a person and that person has created this life and story in such a masterly way that many of us have been duped.
Some have not only given emotion to it but have parted with some money. My feelings were of astonishment then anger that I could have been tricked in this way. Unlike others, I did not see the signs of possible cracks in the story. Maybe that was because I could not accept that such tragedy could be made up by a human being. After all it involved life, death and children.
Many on twitter expressed their unease about who to trust and how you can check that all followers are ‘real’. To them I say – you can’t. Maybe this episode has taught us not to be quite so trusting but Twitter did respond in the best of ways. We thought someone was in crisis and gave them support. That is one reason why I am a tweep and whyy I will continue on Twitter.
Many of the people affected are educators and parents. We may well have come across a child who makes up ‘whopping stories’ who would have been told that it was not the thing to do. If the stories continued we would help them because we know that Billy Liar and Walter Mitty’s lives were not a happy ones.
So maybe that is how we move on. We think about the soul who felt the need to fabricate such an intricate web of deceit. That is where the problem lies and perhaps they deserve our pity not anger.
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Well said Julia.
No kidding. I thought I’ve heard of (almost) everything. What gall. Merciless.
Too right J!
Gosh Julia. That’s truely shocking. This whole situation passed me by until I read your posts. There is nothing wrong in trusting and accepting people, that is the right way founded in good intention. One can only, as you have, question why someone would abuse such trust.
I’m still amazed by it all.
I have followed the ‘Harriet’ story on twitter over the last few months and believed that it was true. I was astounded yesterday when it was found not to be true but relieved as it had become weirdly emotional. The great thing is that it has shown how many nice, normal people there are on twitter who reacted in a normal way to someone that needed support.
Absolutely& that is good!
I must admit, that when you wrote that other post, I did raise my eyebrow and felt it sounded a bit too tragic to be true. So sad that there is so much friendliness out among twitter users, that some people take advantage of this. Don’t feel bad for being a good person, just put it down to experience.
As a second thought, has the twitter account been reported as fake, they really have committed fraud haven’t they (creating a false account and story for financial gain)?
I’m sure someone has followed it up. Thanks for the suggestion!
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This is why I will not give money to these as I have no idea what is real and what isn’t. It is sad when these people take away from people who really do need the help.
When someone asks for money – whether it is in the street or otherwise, I will check and double check that it is real.
Well done Julia for posting what so many of us are feeling. My positive thoughts on this are that so many of my ‘twitter friends’ are so caring that I feel honoured to have as followers.
I agree Angie. We mustn’t let this affect us just add it to our learning!
Did you see this? http://j.mp/L383m3
Crumbs! At least we were not the only fools
Well said! The positive out of it all is surely that so many people really cared. I actually find this more inspirational and although a cruel trick this makes me realise the person who did this has not been as successful as they may feel they have been.
Let’s hope they get the help they need.
There are great positives to be had out of it
Well said. Although it’s been a very difficult situation for many us, all I really hope is that the person gets the help they need very soon.
We can only hope
Well said, Julia
I think you are absolutely right Julia, sadly these things happen, not only online but face to face too. We all must learn from it, move on and hope that the individual gets the help and support that they need.
Absolutely agree