In the world of counter intelligence, the propagation of pseudo-lies is more prevalent than lying itself, because fabricated information is just as informative as is correct information.  The malicious profession of hoax-baiting is no different.

If you tell the truth, you reveal much about yourself; more than you intended to reveal through the simple act of being honest.  If you tell a lie, you also reveal much about yourself.  One finds that, in the world of counter intelligence, straight lying becomes a problem, because eventually lies are found out through the addition of more facts.  But pseudo-lying is the art of lying about lying through the relating of facts.  A method of counter propaganda, which confuses and obfuscates more effectively than simply fabricating falsehoods. The profession of hoaxing is no different.  One may think that the generation of hoaxes pertains to the desire on the part of the surreptitious to amaze and energize the flock.  But think again.  Most hoaxes are pseudo-lies, spun to misdirect and impersonate the impersonator. Valuable insight can be gained into hoaxing by examining more than simply who develops hoax material; rather, who benefits from it and celebrates the work after the fact. In all four cases outlined below, the art work of hoaxing is celebrated by the Fake Skeptic Cabal, and no one else.

And while the hoax is not initiated by the Cabal nor encouraged by any means, it is the illicit squelching of targeted topics; their relegation to being blocked access to the scientific method, this current unethical state of martyrdom, which ultimately provides the fertile fallow ground fomenting massive hoaxing from both sides of the argument.

There are four types of hoax:

• Hoax (Strawman) – Hoax perpetrated to discredit organizations and persons to whom the strawman hoaxer wishes to do damage. A Strawman Hoax will always be fitted with a 2nd layer deep “Key” – the Key is the obvious or semi-obvious flaw or Achilles heel of the argument or the evidence; which, while not lay manifest – is sitting inside the data like an Easter Egg waiting to be found and explode on the whole Hoax. This in an effort to discredit a specific targeted subject or persons. Strawman Hoaxes often bear the signs of employed common method/theme and are mass produced. A Strawman Hoaxer will never reveal who they are. Strawman Hoaxes will come in thematic waves, through the same channels, and right on the heels of an astounding event. They will be imitative and proceed along the same lines of context or subject as the precipitating dramatic event.

Hate Hoax – A skit/joke or special kind of strawman hoax which celebrates oppression or mocks people based upon their opposition to oppression, based upon race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality or political beliefs – is indistinguishable from and should be treated as, the real thing.

• Hoax (Straight) – Hoax perpetrated to entertain one’s self and obtain the adrenaline rush of magician-ship.  Magicians range from those who disclose they are magicians to the unethical who do not. Regardless however, the goal is to hold the perceived audience enraptured with the magician’s personal intellect, sophistry and implied authority and skill. Balls, videos and rabbits are used. Videos and photos are used. A Straight Hoaxer may or may not reveal who they are. One can do magic with facts as well. You will find many SSkeptics, are also hobby or even professional magicians. Both hobbies held from a young age. This is not a coincidence. Deception provides an adrenaline rush, especially when spun inside a cocoon of apparent correctness.

• Hoax (Backfitted) – a video, recording or photo typically, in which a conventionally surprising event is documented, which appears to engage humans and/or animals regarding the curious nature of the event. However, the event is backfitted with an additional hoaxed entity which alters the subject or object nature of the amazing observation, by means of a false overlay or impression of a more astounding or entirely different nature. For instance, overlaying the fake-image of an angel over a blown-lightbulb video, and leveraging off the shock of bystanders to falsely imply that they were reacting as witnesses to the appearance of an angel.

• Hoax (Fake) – Hoax perpetrated to “Show how easy it is to fake this stuff.” This is no different than the perpetrator of the Straight Hoax – except that the perpetrator in this case comes out and discloses that the evidence is a fake; at some later time after they have gained the adrenaline rush of deception or when the revelation will increase their celebrity status to the greatest effect. The implication is that this hoax-and-reveal process is some sort of grand ethical action on their part. In reality, Fake Hoaxes and Strawman Hoaxes are in reality the same thing. However, a fake hoaxer will always reveal who they are. Fake hoaxers are compensated by becoming celebrated members of the Social Skeptic Cabal.  Heroes informing the credulous masses. Eventually, the fact that the hoax was ‘admitted’ is stripped from the social passing of information, and the Fake Hoax does the same exact damage as if it were a Strawman Hoax.  The Cabal and the Fake Hoaxer are well aware of this natural social effect.  This is the most common form of hoaxing.

Lob & Slam Ploy

/philosophy : pseudoscience : method : fake hoax/ : a version of good cop/bad cop wherein a virtual partnership exists between well known fake news ‘satire’ news outlets, and so called ‘fact checkers’ media patrols. The fake news is generated and posed to the web as satire, subsequently stripped of its context by a third party (which often is the debunking or fact check site to begin with), and then inserted into social media as true – whereupon it is virally circulated. Subsequently, ‘fact checking’ agencies are then alerted to this set up (the Lob), and then slam home the idea of the fake nature of the ‘news’, as well as the lack of credibility and gullible nature of those who passed it around through social media. This in itself is a fake ploy, a form a Fake-Hoaxing and Hoax Baiting practiced by social agenda forces seeking to artificially enhance the credibility of a news ‘fact checker’.

Examples can be found here: http://www.snopes.com/army-sniper-shoot-intruders/  or https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-abcs-vp-programming-cancel-roseanne/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Fake Hoaxes should be illegal under fraud statutes – especially when click commerce is being transacted on such fraud. By prosecuting these people, this will force hoaxers to remain in the closet in either the camp of 1) giddy surreptitious magicians, or 2) the maliciously surreptitious. By not allowing the avenue of thinking… ‘hmmmm, all I have to do if caught is say, “I wanted to show how easy it was to fake this stuff” – under admission, a disincentive will be placed for hoaxers of all types, and give them pause.

In the end, however all three hoax genre games only exist as a mechanism which feeds recitation material for those SSkeptics promoting cultivated ignorance. They are the only ones who celebrate the various forms of the hoax lie. They are the only ones who derive a compensation from hoaxing. They are a smokescreen and extraordinary tool of deceit at several levels.

As with most confusing social issues, one must ask “Who loses?” and “Who benefits?”