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I do like conspiracy theories but I treat it like porn. Only in a private session and on vpn and to be honest the serious players can still probably track me.
Reminds me, your subscription to my special site is due to renew....
Reminds me, your subscription to my special site is due to renew….
I have sent you the money in Trump memecoins. Admittedly at the top price but its counts, right'?
See also regular reports of vans driven by Asian/Eastern European men going slowly looking at houses to steal your dogs.
Must be the gypsies day off!
I think statistically your kids are more at risk from you than some shadowy random paedo, that never makes facebook tho
I think statistically your kids are more at risk from you than some shadowy random paedo
Prob best that Cookeaa doesn't float that to his missus, she'll only forward it to her friends and knowing Reading, by the morning his house will have been burnt down.
See also regular reports of vans driven by Asian/Eastern European men going slowly looking at houses to steal your dogs.
They’re almost inevitably gonna be courier delivery drivers desperately trying to find houses, probably in the dark, with indistinct numbers or no numbers on the door. It’s particularly difficult for them at my end of what is quite a long road, because the numbering doesn’t follow the conventional odd/even on either side of the road. On my side it runs 125/127/129/131, etc, and 175/177/179/181 on the opposite side. I was tracking a parcel one evening, and watching for the van, and I saw it pull up outside so I went outside, and the driver was trying to find my house on the other side of the road, I had to call to him to come back up to me.
This whole social meeja shitstorm is spoiling what used to be a fun way to pick up useful information and keep in touch with people.
I don’t use Fb much, just a quick browse every now and then and checking for updates from my archery club, but I see enough bullshit posts spreading all sorts of fake news and conspiracy bullshit that it rather poisons things I see posted on here sometimes, when there’s no emoji or other qualifier to give a clue to how serious the poster is about the tone of the posts, which can lead to the occasional awkwardness.
There are people typing above who have seen the same shit as the OP’s wife and have not been drawn in. Many of us are able to see through it. Why? Or rather what is wrong with these people that can’t step back and take a rational overview before falling for thinking it’s true? What makes them the mugs they are? In this case is it that the OP is predisposed to think the world broadly safe so see this stuff and immediately doubts it and this little dit has unveiled a deep seated distrust of the world around her so she is predisposed to be all histrionic?
People want simple answers to are actually quite complicated problems... They can't (or don't want to) process that there's a whole host of complicated issues coming together to cause whatever problem it is that they are experiencing, and that to fix the problem is even more complicated and will take real time and effort...
So somebody inevitably gives them a scapegoat...
And they then begin to blame all of their problems on the scapegoat...
And they start seeking confirmation bias on social media... Which the algorithms then duly indulge.
And they start to question their "legacy media" sources because they no longer provide them with the confirmation bias they seek, so they seek alternative conventional media sources... (of course, GBNews being run at a massive loss to its owners has been no barrier to its continuation, given the vested interests in its content!)
And then they are fully ready to start arguing with anybody who contradicts what they know to be true... They are now plugged into the Borg, fully assimilated, ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good that is their right wing death cult!
Trust me when I say, that intelligence is often no barrier to being drawn in to all of this crap!
Always puzzled by these assertions that Facebook/Social media is a cesspit full of hate and nutjobs.
Mine isn’t. I must be doing something wrong.
TBH, there's someone in Facebook HQ trying to work out how to get you to use Facebook how they want you to. Which means clicking randomly on adverts, liking nutters pages, clicking on conspiracy theories, turningpoint links, liking Jordan Peterson videos, clicking on Andrew Tate videos and posting a comment calling him a nutter. The more you engage (whether positive or negative) the more money they can make from you.
See also regular reports of vans driven by Asian/Eastern European men going slowly looking at houses to steal your dogs.
To be completely fair, we actually do get a couple of vans driving around locally, nicking anything that's not nailed down. One or two of them get arrested every now and again, it's a family from the next town over who've probably been doing similar since the days of the horse and cart...
Last thing they (almost) got away with round here was the great snow shovel heist, where they were caught selling nicked snow shovels in the local supermarket car park when we had an unseasonably heavy fall in November, and no one could find their shovels.
They also got themselves stuck in a farmyard after they'd failed to steal a quad and some jerry cans of petrol a couple of years ago.
They aren't smart people.
For the reasons you suspected the story will be wholly or substantially nonsense. There are various algorithm and human related reasons why such stories propagate so well. I see shit like this on the FB group from the neighbouring town where virtually anything goes; I had a legitimate reason to join and now stay out of morbid curiousity because almost everyday someone posts something crazy. It has got worse since “anonymous posts” became a thing. About once a month there will be some kidnapping / dogthief / paint on road = burglary target type nonsense.
What is particularly odd about your wife’s story is the suggestion that a man CHASING girls at a school whilst in possession of a KNIFE was released on bail. I’m not saying the criminal justice system never gets this stuff wrong but if the story was substantiated I think the prospect of bail is low.
TBH, there’s someone in Facebook HQ trying to work out how to get you to use Facebook how they want you to. Which means clicking randomly on adverts, liking nutters pages, clicking on conspiracy theories, turningpoint links, liking Jordan Peterson videos, clicking on Andrew Tate videos and posting a comment calling him a nutter. The more you engage (whether positive or negative) the more money they can make from you.
Yep it’s not always Facebook being evil, the algorithm that shows all the cat pics doesn’t really know anything about cats and just keeping’s finding more content like that or things/people you’ve previously engaged with to show you more cats and slip in something new (which just happens to be made up local fantasy news or some hate guff ) and squeeze some more adverts.
People are literally self radicalising themselves when the real intent is to serve more temu adds to sell you more tat 🙂
TBH, there’s someone in Facebook HQ trying to work out how to get you to use Facebook how they want you to. Which means clicking randomly on adverts, liking nutters pages, clicking on conspiracy theories, turningpoint links, liking Jordan Peterson videos, clicking on Andrew Tate videos and posting a comment calling him a nutter. The more you engage (whether positive or negative) the more money they can make from you.
Actually - I don't think that's true. Or rather, if it is - a lot of that is 'our' failure.
There is definitely someone (probably upward of a thousand someones) trying to get us engaging - clicking, pausing & reading/watching and commenting..........on anything. Anything that keeps us there making imprints on adverts. I don't think it's actually in Facebook's interest to have us engaging in tossy nonsense specifically. It just turns out that 'we' engage more readily with it than more banal stuff. The algorithms see what titillated us last time and titillated people a bit like us and feed us more of that. See also cats driving HGVs like a gansta and pretty ladies skipping (maybe that's just me).
Just maybe they know us better than we think we know ourselves....
Have a listen to ‘The Rest Is Classified’ latest podcast, they discuss China classing the brain as the new warfare front and how they’re hacking and ‘weaponising’ algorithms to subtlety brainwash people. Sounds tinfoil-hatty but really makes you think (heh!)
Arthur C. Clarke wrote 'I Remember Babylon' in 1960. It's basically this ^ . A short story, worth reading for how spot on he was in principle, if not in the technology used as it was describing a future not far from there. The general point of TV being the drug of the nation, etc - facebook or tiktok are the new media for the same problem.
Actually – I don’t think that’s true. Or rather, if it is – a lot of that is ‘our’ failure.
It is true, and our failure is human nature - we react more to conflict and reaction is engagement and engagement drives clicks and value. Know yourself.. know you're being triggered and walk away from it, all we do by engaging with any of it is make the app more valuable or powerful. There's no such thing as trolling the alt right 'for balance' etc, what you're doing is increasing engagement on RW topics or posters and feeding the algorithm to that effect. Engaging with the positive stuff is fine but sooner or later someone you know starts posting 'that' stuff.. just have to ignore it or mute it.
I don’t think it’s actually in Facebook’s interest to have us engaging in tossy nonsense specifically
I'd say it is in their interests now, now they know how this stuff works. There's a lot more going on in chaos, take away facts and let people debate .. they don't benefit from establishing the truth or limiting how far things go, only regulation or laws can control that. I expect you're right that whatever creates the most value is what they want, they'll find what pushes your button eventually. Where's your passion, what gets you fired up? That's what'll get you to click. Unfortunately it's highly likely to be something that makes you angry or defensive rather than smile, or at least something where you want to engage with 'the other side' of a POV.
Reading through the above I worry I've made my Wife sound unhinged, She's not she's just suceptable to a rather specific form of manipulation (as are we all in some way or another).
This morning I asked for an update, apparently the Phantom has been spotted in Prospect park... I asked if there had been any further verification or if she recognised the names of any of these "witnesses" she admitted to becoming a bit more sceptical of the whole thing, but she's still telling the kids to be extra cautious on their way home later...
To me that feels like goal achieved for the culprits, true or not, my missus and people like her feel that little bit less comfortable and a bit more suspicious of their own community.
At the same time I worry I'm a bit mansplainy on these topics which has the effect of making her less inclined to examine her online bubble.
Her media habbits were of course formed in a differnt age, before the Zuck had even thought of comparing the relative hotness of ladeez...
The people on the facebook groups I'm on and occasionally contribute too are remarkably sane and balanced: no problem. However, I've learned to avoid the general feed; it knows me too well which leads to doom scrolling like munching through a box of excellent chocolates but knowing it probably isn't good for me, or the planet or society in general. 50s rock music, classic rally cars, French movies, history, archeology, science... .
I'd say that anyone who thinks that they specifically are immune to this stuff is just deluding themselves. It just affects you in a way that you're not aware of.
It affects me too, which is why I've gone cold turkey on all social media.
STW forum is social media, Kramer. 😉
The people on the facebook groups I’m on and occasionally contribute too are remarkably sane and balanced: no problem. However, I’ve learned to avoid the general feed;
Aye, most are MTB for me and run nicely. I did join a new veteran group on Sunday, backed out of there pretty quick, cesspool is an understatement.
I sometimes click on posts that appear in my feed just to see the lunacy that goes on, keeps me grounded and reminds me to mark and avoid.
I don’t think it’s actually in Facebook’s interest to have us engaging in tossy nonsense specifically.
No, they just want us to engage. And tossy nonsense that appeals to the widest possible demographic is the best sort of stuff to engage with. Doesn't even matter if you post and say "boooo, this is tossy nonsense" you've still engaged...
No, they just want us to engage.
It is much more than that, as cambridge analytica showed, and they haven't been sitting on their hands for the last 8 years since then.
To me that feels like goal achieved for the culprits, true or not, my missus and people like her feel that little bit less comfortable and a bit more suspicious of their own community.
A fearful population is a compliant one!
Divide and conquer…
At the same time I worry I’m a bit mansplainy on these topics which has the effect of making her less inclined to examine her online bubble.
Most likely, although I don't see a huge gender divide in the reposting shit without thinking about it, I do see a gender divide in people telling others that they are idiots for reposting it! There's definitely a generational divide in people understanding that some stuff is just totally made up.
Guy in my cycling club has just started sharing a Facebook link showing the Southport Stabbing perpetrator is the son of a Rwandan warlord. That Kier Starmer represented and fought tooth and nail to keep in the country, during his time as DPP.
Thankfully a few asked him to fact check it and verify, the source. But he likes the narrative so ignored it!
Sorry, playing catchup.
The School would be the first to issue a statement on it’s social media and emails to parents if this was true.
To be fair, the School would likely be the first to issue a warning on its social media and emails to parents even if this was false.
So why do some people get far right stuff and some of us get rally cars and board games? Serious question. I have a vague interest in rallying and chess but I’m not in any groups or anything for them.
Look at the company you keep.
you don’t choose all your network, unless you’re the type blocking all your relatives and workmates no matter what. So, yeah, partly luck
Of course you do. If you can't excise arseholes from your life then you've only got yourself to blame.
At the same time I worry I’m a bit mansplainy on these topics which has the effect of making her less inclined to examine her online bubble.
Instead of questioning her feed, start from another angle, in a couple of weeks time say you have had a good documentary recommended to you, and sit down and watch "the social dilemma" together.
Then from time to time, just highlight a news report about misinformation or and how the lack of fact checking is destroying the truth etc. "have you seen this, Trump is claiming that immigrants are eating pet dogs in Springfield, what a ****ing moron he is"
Don't criticise what she is doing, just every now and then highlight what is going on so she can join the dots.
See also regular reports of vans driven by Asian/Eastern European men going slowly looking at houses to steal your dogs.
Just wait until they notice the flour or chalk on the pavement or the zip ties on lamposts!!!!!!! A sure sign that the badduns want to kill your baby robins and steal your job and jump ahead of you in the queue for a GP appointment.
AFAIK there's evidence that people don't care about the veracity of things on social media, and that training them to spot untrue things makes very little difference.
People are addicted to likes and shares.
But as he says ‘if we can disprove 99% of them, that makes the other 1% all the more interesting’ Have a look for things like MK Ultra or Paul Bennowicz if you want some which turned out to be true.
...
People want simple answers to are actually quite complicated problems…
These two posts are really the crux of the problem.
Firstly, that 1% fuels the crazies. A stopped clock is correct twice a day. The anti-vaxers scream about vaccines not being 100% safe or 100% effective when no-one with any credibility ever claimed otherwise. Someone had an allergic reaction once therefore we're obviously injecting poison into our children for, IDK, who only knows what reason. You could say the same of Paracetamol. One of the potential side-effects of consuming peanuts is "death."
MK Ultra was a real thing and deeply troubling, but that doesn't add credence to the notion that Bill Gates is using 5G for mind control experiments.
Secondly, whilst people absolutely grasp for simple answers to complicated questions - this is one reason why religion is attractive to many - people also tend towards answers that align with their already established beliefs. As the OP states, the alleged perpetrator in this tale was wholly predictably brown and beardy. Do we suppose the same story would have done the rounds at the same rate if it was a white bloke in a suit? ****stani grooming gangs are a disc race like and share if you agree, but in something like 85% of rape cases the accused are actually white men.
Pop quiz hot shot: Did you just believe that statistic without questioning its validity?
(I think it's correct, but I'm working from memory.)
she admitted to becoming a bit more sceptical of the whole thing, but she’s still telling the kids to be extra cautious on their way home later…
As I said before: why?
A known nonce is surely less of a threat than an unknown one. Shouldn't they be being "extra careful" as a matter of course?
People are addicted to likes and shares.
I do think addiction to social media is a very real problem.
Secondly, whilst people absolutely grasp for simple answers to complicated questions
Isn't there some thing in the way our human minds work that looks for pattern recognition, good in past evolutionary times, but easy to abuse with modern technology, nudge psychology etc
iirc marketing in the 60's in the US learned a lot from the German propaganda from WWII, after the Nixon fallout the republicans started feeding the marketing lessons back into political propaganda. There are quite a few good books and documentaries on this stuff, but the whole subject would make me far too anxious about life to get too deep into it, I already feel I am going a bit down that path now.
As I said before: why?
I don't know, I don't have any special insights I'm just her Husband...
TBH I'm fine with my kids being careful as a general habit (and I think they mostly are), they seem generally to consider the bosses' warnings unnecessary, so her requests for extra care to be taken are either met with eye rolling or biting sarcasm.
It's not about the pedophiles.
It's about her feeling part of the in group.
Update: Just had a Google and the local Rag has latched on:
https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24887912.man-reportedly-chasing-girls-knife-reading/
I suspect zero journalism beyond reading some Facebook at this time...
Been watching 'in case' as my sister and her kids live in Tilehurst
https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24888424.police-give-update-reading-man-seen-carrying-knife/
So seems not without substance, however entirely possible that the chasing kids bit is a blow-up of the actual report.
And wrt the report,
Officers arrested a 30-year-old man at about 8.10pm, on suspicion of possession of a knife blade/ sharp pointed article in a public place and using threatening/abusive/insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment/alarm or distress.
"on suspicion of possession of"
Nothing actually says they were chasing people WITH a bladed weapon, as in brandishing it specifically. Or that it is an ongoing event.
Nothing actually says they were chasing people WITH a bladed weapon, as in brandishing it specifically. Or that it is an ongoing event.
Or that it happened at all.
The linked report is pretty definitive that a 30 y.o was arrested in Belmont Road Reading on 23/1/25
Officers arrested a 30-year-old man at about 8.10pm, on suspicion of possession of a knife blade/ sharp pointed article in a public place and using threatening/abusive/insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment/alarm or distress.
Officers arrested a 30-year-old man at about 8.10pm, on suspicion of possession of a knife blade/ sharp pointed article in a public place and using threatening/abusive/insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment/alarm or distress.
Local news here would have reported that "cops had pounced" or "cops swooped". While doing the pouncing and swooping, there'd probably have been "traffic chaos" too. Everything causes "traffic chaos" in the local news.
Boring old "arrest" is hardly news, not if there's no pouncing or swooping or traffic chaos.
Kind of like how cyclists never just "ride", they hurtle. Menacingly or recklessly. They cause traffic chaos too.
Then people can post on FB that they were held up in traffic for hours while cops swooped / cyclists hurtled; like, share and comment if you agree!
TBH look at the number of ad’s they managed to serve up 🙂
Its a page of adds with a picture of a man with a knife - as opposed to the man with a knife just in case you can’t imagine it,
She’s just so incurious
I believe this is an evolutionary trait and very common. Thinking requires a lot of time and energy. Time and energy that can be used for more important things pertaining to our survival. Especially when others have already done the thinking for you.
It's not quite so useful when we have massive, global platforms, with unprecedented ability to engage and manipulate people, force feeding us questionable information, every hour of the day.
Well there you go.
There was an arrest, and a subsequent bailing out...
The rest of it? Who bloody knows, she's now not buying the pictures of some random brown person that were shared, or the reports of him wandering about town...
So we're both feeling strangely vindicated it seems. We've agreed that she won't to take these things at face value, and I won't be instantly dismissive. Equilibrium is achieved.
That's how they often work, teenagers kick off in the bus station, the facebook rumour is muslim teenagers attack poor defenceless british kids, someone's cat goes missing becomes immigrants stealing and eating pets (those example are real) the grain of truth makes the message of hate and division much more powerful.
Someone threatening another with a knife happens all the time, 99% of the time they know each other and have an existing beef. I have a big scar on my face from a knife attack 30 years ago, in my case it was a **** in a night club going out tooled. The crime isn't new, the way it is being manipulated is.
Top work by crazy-legs. Although it seems to be the choice of the official news feed too
I'm not saying Councillor Joanne Stewart (Conservative, Tilehurst Birch Copse) is stirring shit but her completely uncorroborated story that she's published on the local news site sounds exactly like the one in the OP.
> https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24887912.man-reportedly-chasing-girls-knife-reading/ <