The
internatonal Bull Shitters Club
Have
you heard some really good BS today, let us know
email it
to us for a chance to win a Masters kit for you or a friend.
A
"Bullshit Story" is a tall tale based loosely on real events but
embellished over time. Bullshit Stories usually start with "I have
Friend...etc." A successful Bullshit Story will leave the listener or
reader not quite sure if the story was real or made up. The bullshit
detector is going off but they don't quite know why.
Email
us at
arthur@bullshitintl.com
5
Bullshit Stories the Whole Internet Fell For
The
internet loves bullshit. While many of its denizens will brag of their
skepticism, claim thousands of readers make the best fact-checkers, and
say the web holds the mainstream media accountable, the fact remains
that made-up bullshit still drives huge traffic, if it's marketed
right. Hence, "13-year-old Steals Dad's Credit Car to Buy Hookers," a
realistic-looking "news story" posted on some financial site
no
one had ever heard of before called monkey.co.uk. The fact
that there were no sources other than this dodgy domain didn't stop the
story from making the front page of Digg and Fark and racking up
probably hundreds of thousands of views.
Then
"real" news sites began picking it up. It made the UK
Sun's
print edition. This tale was
invented
by an online marketer to boost a client's SEO ranking. And no
one on Digg or anywhere else BUSTED the hoax. Nor do they bother to
debunk any of the rest of the snappily headlined bullshit that makes
the rounds every day. Four more examples, below.
- 2.
Rememberthe
twins who accidentally married each other! A classic bullshit
story that probably garnered CNN millions of views.
- 3.
The man
regrowing his own finger story! It involved pixie
dust and still everyone who linked bought it.
- 4.
Aliza Shvarts violating human biology by impregnating herself a million
times and then inducing abortions with magic herbal remedies.
Not even the abortion pill, but herbs. Honestly.
- 5.
Jenkem.
Most of these stories were eventually revealed as frauds, but
usually not until days later—always well after everyone had forwarded
them to everyone they knew. And this shit happens every day. Especially
with almost any story involving nude
people doing something outrageous, especially in far away
places. (That one's on Fark!)
So. If you see egregious bullshit linked to on some
high-traffic message board or blog, let us know, and we will publicly
shame everyone involved.