22 May 2001
Kaycee ad Absurdum
It's time for my final thoughts on the Kaycee hoax, and then I'm turning to other topics.
I don't know if "Debbie" really planned it this way, but the whole thing offers some lessons on how (and how not to) pull off a great hoax on the internet, if that is the goal. The first, most critical thing: you MUST make believers out of established figures on the net, because of their reputations and circles of other "credible" net people. Find established web people, especially ones who hang out in chat rooms (like BWG and Halcyon, apparently), and become their "friends" over time. Pick people who are, by nature, gullible and non-questioning, and let them come to "know" you. Let them talk about you (I chatted with so and so last night. She has cancer, but a real braveness of spirit....). Maybe they'll offer you webspace or web design help, for which you should be appropriately grateful. Their circle of friends will then come to "know" you as well, and so you will have established a core group of people who will defend your authenticity -- however weakly established. That core group is crucial -- it allows for large numbers of people to be suckered, introducing the hoax to even more people who are trusted by their web circles as authentic and genuine sources of information. The whole thing then snowballs. It's really brilliant, aside from the mistakes that were made at the end in this particular example. I fell for it, trusting the authenticity of people whom, in retrospect, clearly shouldn't have been afforded that level of trust, and then I squandered some of my own authenticity in promoting the thing. A political risk analyst ought not have been so easily fooled.
This brings me to my second point -- why are grown men hanging out in chat rooms getting so attached to pre-college teenage females in the first place? Sure, the young teenage lovely's story may be compelling -- but what is there really in common between male adults and such young pre-college teenage lovelies? [Paragraph slightly edited to emphasize "pre-college."]
And my third point -- this whole investigative quest by the "net community" intent on "finding the truth" in this matter was certainly effective, and thus impressive. But in looking through the metafilter and yahoo group (yes, a yahoo group!) threads devoted to this topic, I'm astounded that these "investigators" are willing to call up complete strangers -- pastors, postal clerks, newpapers, hospitals, relatives of people involved -- all to get to the "truth." On the one hand, it's nice to see such passion and dedication. On the other hand, I wonder how often they are so motivated by other pursuits.
On to my fourth point -- is the quest for the truth the goal, or the quest to be the first with the latest scoop, in order to get it posted and boost one's net traffic (or some other motivation I'm missing)? I'm seeing things on metafilter such as claims to have been the first to doubt kaycee (shall we give you an award? A webbie perhaps?!) or the first to talk to the pastor (good for you!) or the first to talk to Julie's mother (Ummm.... okay) or complaints that metafilter isn't quoted in the MSNBC article (I'm SO sorry), or... you get the idea. Is this really about the truth, or about the individuals and THEIR quest for the truth, and more particularly about THEM getting credit for it!? I wonder what prompts this behavior. It seems something more than the concern for "truth" they all profess.
My fifth point -- Halcyon promotes a GROUP HUG over the whole matter, for christ's sake, then sends me a "hurt" email hours after I happened to note this oddity in my weblog. MEMO TO HALCYON: BEING SO SELFISHLY OBSESSED WITH BEING THE NET'S GROUP SHRINK ON THE KAYCEE HOAX RENDERS YOU PERHAPS THE LEAST CREDIBLE CANDIDATE FOR THE OFFICE (WHICH IS RIDICULOUS ON ITS FACE)! Even more telling: how frequently you check your weblogs for "good" and "bad" press! Unbelievable. Proof that jackasses can thrive on the web just as easily as they can thrive in real life, I guess. "Sensitive" jackasses, however. Very important, that.
My sixth point -- yeah, Debbie is a really sick woman. Or a genius. Or both. *shrug* I vote that Halcyon should travel to Kansas and give her a hug. They could set up a live netcast of the event, we could have a group-grope over the net, and thus all get some "closure." Oh, and since it is MY idea, I expect full credit for it in the news coverage, goddamnit, and on the metafilter thread. So please note the time I posted this entry.
Anyway, those are my final thoughts on the Kaycee hoax. I'm posting this as a closed greymatter entry as I have no real desire to talk about this topic -- as opposed to, say, National Greatness Conservatism and Strauss, or textual analysis techniques, or the sad state of contemporary journalism -- any further. The message boards, of course, remain open for such conversation, whatever purpose it may serve.
[Posted @ 10:46 PM CST]
