Any way to find out if my niece is serious?

[Mental Magpie]

I usually post the link too, for the benefit of the other people who saw the original post. I word it in a friendly way ("I was worried about this, too, but apparently it's not true.") and not in a way that makes the poster look bad.

Ditto.  "I was worried about the veracity, so I looked.  Apparently it isn't true, according to this: LINK".

[Twik]

There's lots of reasons for posting Snopes links. It's rude if it's to say "nah nah nah, I know more than you." It's justifiable if it's to keep people from worrying about something that isn't true. In a case where someone has posted what I think was posted, a link to Snopes  is one of the few ways to say, civilly, that the original poster is dealing with horrible lies.

[LadyR]

Gah. This had, thankfully, escaped my radar. Disgusting and yes, it would involve defriending or at least a conversation with the person who posted it.

[thedudeabides]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

[Mental Magpie]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

That just seems way too ambiguous to me.  I think being direct is a better approach (if one is so inclined).

[thedudeabides]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

That just seems way too ambiguous to me.  I think being direct is a better approach (if one is so inclined).

My wording was lousy, but my point was, why go straight to defriending or hiding or whatever when asking would get the answer the OP is looking for.

[RingTailedLemur]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

That just seems way too ambiguous to me.  I think being direct is a better approach (if one is so inclined).

My wording was lousy, but my point was, why go straight to defriending or hiding or whatever when asking would get the answer the OP is looking for.

Whether the niece is serious or not, giving this particular hoax (or ones like it) any attention other than to decry them would cause me to defriend.

[Sharnita]

You know, I find this one disgusting, too.  However, I saw it posted by somebody I know who I think is really a nice person.  I pondered how it was possible and this is my theory - it might be scarier for them to accept that a tragedy could be random and unexplainable.  There is really no way to completely defend against that.  So when somebody with an agenda offers an "eplanantion" some people grab onto it, not becasue they are mean or hateful but because it takes away some of the uncertainty.

I certainly will correct those things if I have evidence that they are false but I try to figure out motivation.  For some people it is makice and anger, for others it is genuine fear.

[MariaE]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

That just seems way too ambiguous to me.  I think being direct is a better approach (if one is so inclined).

My wording was lousy, but my point was, why go straight to defriending or hiding or whatever when asking would get the answer the OP is looking for.

Whether the niece is serious or not, giving this particular hoax (or ones like it) any attention other than to decry them would cause me to defriend.

Has it been revealed what the hoax is?

[RingTailedLemur]

Why not just ask if they believe it? Doesn't have to be confrontational, just "Saw you posted X. What's up?"

That just seems way too ambiguous to me.  I think being direct is a better approach (if one is so inclined).

My wording was lousy, but my point was, why go straight to defriending or hiding or whatever when asking would get the answer the OP is looking for.

Whether the niece is serious or not, giving this particular hoax (or ones like it) any attention other than to decry them would cause me to defriend.

Has it been revealed what the hoax is?

It's pretty obvious to me that it's the Sandy Hook one.  OP, please correct me if I am wrong.

[Shoo]

I've seen a few people posting the Sandy Hook one.  Each of them, and the responding posts, have been to the effect of questioning whether or not the government could pull off something like this.  No one that I have seen has said they believe it.  They're just asking a question.  Nothing wrong with that, IMO. 

One doesn't have to actually believe something is true to wonder about it and have a discussion.  That's what I, personally, have been seeing regarding this on Facebook.  Certainly doesn't make them awful people to do so.

[Sharnita]

Shoo, if somebody "wondered" on facebook whether you had molested children and offered it up as a topic of discussion, would you be OK with that?  You're right, they wouldn't have to believe it to put it out there and have hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people linking and discussing the possibility.  Would that really be something you would be fine with?  Just asking a question?

[Shoo]

Shoo, if somebody "wondered" on facebook whether you had molested children and offered it up as a topic of discussion, would you be OK with that?  You're right, they wouldn't have to believe it to put it out there and have hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people linking and discussing the possibility.  Would that really be something you would be fine with?  Just asking a question?

No, of course not.  But this particular story isn't directed at one individual.  It's about a government conspiracy.  Like I said, no one I know has said they believe it.  But there has been a lot of discussion about it, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. 

[Sharnita]

Shoo, if somebody "wondered" on facebook whether you had molested children and offered it up as a topic of discussion, would you be OK with that?  You're right, they wouldn't have to believe it to put it out there and have hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people linking and discussing the possibility.  Would that really be something you would be fine with?  Just asking a question?

No, of course not.  But this particular story isn't directed at one individual.  It's about a government conspiracy.  Like I said, no one I know has said they believe it.  But there has been a lot of discussion about it, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Individuals work for the governemtn.  The names of specific government individuals specifically cennected to this tragedy are known.  To discuss this is to implicate individuals, exactly like implicating you. It also implicate individual family members of some of the victims of colluding. The only difference is that in this case you aren't one of the individuals.

ETA:  I think that beyond this specific case, that is the issue with posting conspiracy theories on fb.  It is why it is OK to post links and evidence debunking them and it is why it is understandable that some people take offense and defriend (possibly in real life, too).

[Yvaine]

Shoo, if somebody "wondered" on facebook whether you had molested children and offered it up as a topic of discussion, would you be OK with that?  You're right, they wouldn't have to believe it to put it out there and have hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people linking and discussing the possibility.  Would that really be something you would be fine with?  Just asking a question?

No, of course not.  But this particular story isn't directed at one individual.

Some of the believers are, in fact, targeting individuals. The gentleman who gave several of the kids a safe place to hide has been receiving hate mail. I believe some of the grieving families have also received hate mail. It's disgusting. If they were just blaming the government, I could write it off as standard tinfoilhattery. But the idea of the grieving families and neighbors being "actors" has brought a really awful personal aspect into it.