Fake Hate Crimes

[LDAHL]

The Chicago Police are currently trying to determine whether a racist/homophobic attack reported by an actor was in fact staged by him. There are seemingly numerous cases on campus where students and even faculty manufacture graffiti or threats against themselves. Lena Dunham’s publisher had to walk back her claim of being raped by a College Republican. There have been other such incidents.

What possesses people to do that? A play for sympathy? A chance to fake courage in adversity? Ideological zealotry requiring a victim and villain narrative? An insatiable appetite for credulous Twitter followers?

It would seem to me that the risk of exposure would greatly outweigh any benefits to be gained from this sort of thing. Why do people do it?

[CathyA]

I suppose it releases some anger for feeling like certain people (as themselves) are treated unfairly, and maybe their anger just targets someone innocent, so they can feel somehow vindicated for the injustices they are feeling??
It sure makes knowing what the truth is harder and harder.
The thing with the actor in Chicago........I was really surprised to hear that it's looking more and more like a set-up. Supposedly this actor was being let go from the show he was on, and he was hoping this notoriety would help him to keep his job.
So.....your question is a good one, and I'm not sure the answer is the same for everyone who does it. But it's very disconcerting.
I was all ready to believe this actor guy......then it seems his story all started to unfold.

And from the opposite angle.......it makes it harder for people who are telling the truth about something that has been done to them.
This is a crazy world we live in.

[Alan]

Being a victim is very empowering in our current culture.

[JaneV2.0]

Crimes of all kinds are falsely reported--probably on a daily basis--for various reasons, by dysfunctional people looking for attention, pity, revenge, or monetary gain. I thought this one sounded fishy from the start, but maybe it will turn out to be true.

Such attention-seeking doesn't cancel out the fact that there are lots of real victims out there, just because you don't happen to be one of them.

[iris lilies]

Being a victim is very empowering in our current culture.

bingo.

[iris lilies]

Crimes of all kinds are falsely reported--probably on a daily basis--for various reasons, by dysfunctional people looking for attention, pity, revenge, or monetary gain. I thought this one sounded fishy from the start, but maybe it will turn out to be true.

Such attention-seeking doesn't cancel out the fact that there are lots of real victims out there, just because you don't happen to be one of them.

Yes Jane so true. It is sad and wrong that liars and drama seekers put themselves forth in front of true victims, obscuring their story and taking up limited resources.

But I find third party interactions, the politicians and social warriors who drag victims’ names through the mud of unwanted publicity, to be the worst. They are lower than low. These third party idiots cause embarassment and discomfort, when the victims themselves want no part of the circus.

[iris lilies]

I remember when the actress Tara J Hensen apologized for her son’s claim of victim at the hands of a police officer. The LosAngeles cops had that interaction on video and it showed nothing but polite treatment of her son. It was classy of her to apologize.

My adle brained mother claimed she was treated badly by a local cop who pulled her over for some kind of driving violation and kept her there, for hours! While we will never know what took place, my brother was deeply skeptical of her story since he knows that particular police officer and says he is always the kindest and most polite of the local gendarmes.

In my mother’s case, I can see where a large man in a uniform who is peering through her car window and asking questions is intimidating in itself, and in her adled State she makes a bigger case of it in her mind than it was. Soon after stopped driving because her car mysteriously would not start! How about that!??? After a while she forgot about getting it fixed.

[Teacher Terry]

I find the whole thing disgusting and if true will probably kill his career.

[JaneV2.0]

I find the whole thing disgusting and if true will probably kill his career.

And maybe it should. What a boneheaded move.

[LDAHL]

I see the FBI and USPS are now investigating whether he sent himself a threatening letter.