Scamming Woo-woo

[jallenecs]

You know, I first heard about Project Alpha when I was a kid, and have always been fascinated by it. To my mind, it seems like the only way to get through to some people is not TELL them that their sacred cows aren't actual all that holy. You have to get down and actually murder them.

Metaphorically speaking, of course!

I once wrote a short story about somebody who started a new line of thought in one of the alien abductions circles, just to see how far it would go. ( In the story, the character did NOT follow through, and reveal himself as a poser.)

I have always wanted to try such a thing for real, either directly or vicariously (there's this one field near my home that I'd LOVE to do a crop circle in, if I had the least artistic skill). I'm not a conjuror or magician of any stripe. But I'm a pretty good wordsmith and a very good musician; don't know how that would apply to a scam, however.

Do you think such a scam serves a purpose? I mean, the Alpha Project was done to demonstrate the flaws in testing.

Or are the darker angels of my nature indulging in a bit of wicked glee at the discomfiture of others? (NO NO NO NO, I would never actually do such a thing; I'm indulging a fantasy here, and pondering the why's and wherefore's of it)

[UnrepentantSinner]

One of the biggest problems with duping people then showing them they've been duped is the wounding of pride and a sense that they were lied to by you which, unfortunately is counter-productive to what you're trying to accomplish.

That said however...

Randi's Carlos hoax was a great example of what you're talking about. Read up on it and see if it gives you any ideas. Also some of the people who frequent this forum were very involved in fighting the Planet X B.S. being propigated by Nancy Lieder. I don't know how they're handling the fact that Planet X was a no show, but if you PM forum member The Bad Astronomer (http://host.randi.org/vbulletin/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=1782) I'm sure he'd fill you in on what info. he's getting on the PXers and how they're reacting to being taken in.

[jallenecs]

Originally posted by UnrepentantSinner
Randi's Carlos hoax was a great example of what you're talking about. Read up on it and see if it gives you any ideas.

I have indeed heard of it. But what I know about the Carlos hoax is limited to what I read in Sagan's lovely book, "The Demon Haunted World."

[UnrepentantSinner]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=randi+carlos

I attended TAM and actually got to meet Carlos. He was the special guest for the Meeting. I'm sorry the google results are a cop out reply, but for me, I'd check as many sources as possible to guage the results from both skeptic and believer perspectives.

[NoZed Avenger]

The other potential problem is, of course, that it is possible you won't be believed.

Some time back, a group in England released some fake ufo's near a popular place for sightings and took video so that they could gauge the accuracy of UFO reports. The reports were accepted as genuine and are probably still being touted as "unexplained by the skeptic community." When the group came forward, the UFO observers dismissed their hoax claim because their method for 'creating' UFOs obviously wouldn't produce the phenomenon seen by the observers -- therefore the alleged hoaxers must be lying.