April 14, 2004
Crying wolf on campus
Once again, a shocking on-campus crime proves a hoax. Is this only the tip of the iceberg? Read this Chicago Tribune essay and decide for yourself.
Hate crime hoaxes are by far the most prevalent type of campus "crimes." Many of these have a rational basis on the part of perpetrators in attempting to bring attention to their cause.The author opines that much of this is driven by the celebration of victimhood on college campuses. Her mention of "Take Back the Night" marches set me wondering how long they have been going on and to what effect. Best I can figure, it's been 25+ years of sound and fury. . .Last year, a Northwestern University student who said he was the victim of racist graffiti and a knife attack was later charged with felony disorderly conduct after he admitted to police that both reports were fake. A police report issued by San Francisco State University found that racial epithets written on the doors of two African-American students were not the product of racism, but rather a way to bring attention to racial issues on the part of the students themselves. When two African-American students at Miami University of Ohio distributed racist flyers around the Black Student Association offices, they claimed that the hoax was the only way they could address racism on campus.
While hate-crime hoaxes can be understood as a way to bring attention to a cause, it is more difficult to understand the growing number of campus rape fabrications.
Hat tip to Dan Drezner.
Posted by David on April 14, 2004 2:37 PM
Can we chalk it up to performance art? It may just be more of what the audience has demanded from the Disumbrationist School since 1924:
He [Paul Jordan Smith] titled his painting 'Exaltation' and made up something about how it represented the shattering of the bonds of womanhood. He said the woman had just taken a bite of a banana and was waving the banana skin over her head in triumphant freedom.To his chagrin, but not really to his surprise, the work was praised instead of being laughed at. This inspired Smith to paint and exhibit more pictures under Jerdanowitch's name, including one with a lot of squiggles and eyeballs that he named 'Illumination.' More praise followed.
How can we know? Nine traits that suggest the commission of a hoax:
4. An incident that is particularly skillfully exploited by the alleged victim to attain victim status, manipulate institutions, obtain concessions, special privileges, or money.When the victims response to a hate crime is particularly skillful and articulate, or when supporters seem very well-organized and appear on the scene very quickly, it suggests some planning was afoot. Bona fide hate crimes are sometimes not reported for days after they occur. Hoaxes are almost always reported immediately.
Because of the possibility of civil damages in hate crime cases, it is likely that hoaxes of the nature will be increasing. Be alert for cases where the issue of lawsuits and damage amounts emerge early in the event.
Posted by: Peter Shriner on April 14, 2004 10:32 PM
gmail.com