“No pic hoax!”
This sentence is probably one of the ones we hear most often on online forums. But what exactly is a hoax? What is the difference between a hoax and a lie?
When a news story claiming there is a bomb in a mall turns out to be false, that story is usually called a hoax. Hoaxes are often used for jokes, to embarrass someone, or to provoke a social or political issue. Although often equated with a prank (jahil), according to folklore writer Jan Harold Brunvand, a hoax tends to be a lie created on a large and complex scale, a ruse that goes beyond a mere joke and “can cause harm to its target.”
Then, what is the difference between a hoax and a fraud? According to Alex Boese, creator of the Museum of Hoaxes website, the difference lies in the public’s reaction. A fraud can be called a hoax if it has an impact on society or is able to sabotage the imagination of the masses. Meanwhile, according to English linguist Robert Nares, the term hoax was first coined at the end of the 18th century as an abbreviation of the verb ‘hocus’, which means ‘to deceive’, ‘to force something’, or ‘to confuse with a dose of strong liquor’. Meanwhile, ‘hocus’ is also short for a magic spell, ‘hocus pocus’.
Hoax in Social Action
On April 15, 2011, when General Electric (an American energy corporation) announced it would refund 3.2 billion US dollars in taxes, the news sounded wonderfully ideal. The problem was, when was the last time a major American corporation took such a fully moral action?
Hmmm, the answer is never! The announcement from General Electric was nothing more than a hoax created by a group advocating tax justice in the US, assisted by The Yes Lab (an activist group that uses creative methods and various media in its actions). The announcement was spread in the form of a disguised press release that seemed to have been made by General Electric. An Associated Press journalist believed it, wrote it up, and broadcast it. Within just a few minutes, the news exploded.
This hoax was just one way activists “obtained” publicity space they could not get otherwise (either because it is too expensive or because of other media politics). Instead of voicing criticism through the media in the usual way (which is hard, since the media often serves the interests of those in power), the hoax takes advantage of that media bias. The hoax is made to look as if the powerful party (in this case General Electric) is the one speaking and announcing a big news story. After the lie is exposed (usually within minutes or hours), the activists behind the hoax explain themselves to the public in their own real voice. Of course, they use a big “stage” with a large number of journalists whom they had already attracted with the earlier trick.
In general, it is better to explain a hoax as clearly as possible right away, since the main purpose of a hoax in this context is to reveal more of the truth to more people. In line with The Yes Lab’s principle, never let a lie spread without being exposed. This is the opposite of the principle of those in power (corporations among them). Activists strive to expose such lies on every occasion.
The use of hoaxes in actions for change can be captured in a quote from Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War: sometimes we need a lie to reveal the truth. “Sometimes it takes a lie to expose the truth.”
Translation of one part of Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, with an introduction.
photo:
TheJakartapost.com
RT.com
