Het Engelse woord hoax is afgeleid van hocus pocus. Het staat voor grap, bedrog of oplichterij. En oplichters heeft de mensheid door de eeuwen heen meer dan genoeg voortgebracht. In deze podcast zetten podcastmaker Dana Schwartz en schrijver Lizzie Logan er een aantal op een rij. Van ‘balloon boy’ in 2009 tot negentiende-eeuwse elfjesfoto’s. Regelmatig neigt de toon naar een kletspodcast en het geheel is behoorlijk Amerikaans – vaak wat overdreven. Toch neemt dat niet weg dat hoaxen een interessant thema blijven voor een podcast, en er komen genoeg opmerkelijke verhalen voorbij om het luisteren de moeite waard te maken.
Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to “Balloon boy” in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we’ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood’s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we’ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.
**New episodes every other week**
When YouTube was barely a year old, the the site’s users were gripped by the slowly unfolding tale of Bree, the sheltered, beautiful 16 year old girl whose parents kept her locked in her bedroom with no one but the internet and her only friend, Daniel, for company. As Bree’s situation grew more dire, she became one of the first online obsessions, paving the way for hundreds of hoaxes to come.
SOURCES
https://www.youtube.com/@lonelygirl15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-m-JXcppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5S2Kdb8Io4&t=3s
https://medium.com/@vocativ/the-strange-saga-of-lonelygirl15-an-oral-history-dd94687e9976
https://www.businessinsider.com/where-are-they-now-creators-of-lonelygirl15-turned-web-series-into-a-multi-million-dollar-company-2010-7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnjZzDeepE8
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lonelygirl15-story.html
https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/
https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/154b603/how_did_people_of_the_2000s_fall_for_lonelygirl15/
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