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Well, urban legends are as old as time. And parents have been panicking about their children being snatched up from a store since...forever. Partly because it DOES happen, which makes the story at least partly believable. I mean it's not like nobody ever gets kidnapped or raped.
There's always some deliciously terrifying element, though, that takes an urban legend a step above the top so that it spreads like crazy. Again, really nothing new and definitely nothing the internet invented. It just spreads faster now, and often with visuals, due to social media.
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Sooo, what's the mindset when someone perpetuates these stories, and for that matter, any kind of urban legend?
Well, just human nature. Plus of course a degree of fear; we all have it, but at varying levels. Some of us will dismiss such stuff logically, for the reasons given. Others might be at a point in their lives, or have had certain experiences, to be more "afraid" than other people and/or more afraid than they themselves usually would be.
I don't think it's any sort of condition or anything. Humans are social, humans are inclined to spread warnings among groups, and we have a lot of fears today that you can't actually pinpoint as something physical - i.e. we may fear generally about a job loss rather than, we see a tiger coming at us and can choose to run - so we gravitate toward things we CAN look at, be directly afraid of, BUT control in some way (i.e. THIS exact thing 'really happened, so "be aware"/do something preventative).
By the way, in my city we really have had a "follow people around" series of incidents, and yes, they're on the police blotter. This is crazy timing as just yesterday on my town's "moms" FB board we were talking about it. Not in a general way, but two people we all know - we personally know one another, our kids go to the same schools, etc. - literally had this happen. We're not speaking FOR them, they're reporting this directly, asking what to do.
It seems like it's some MLM thing or Herbalife or...you know, something like that. But it all came off in a really, really strange way that did indeed make these women feel frightened. In each case the woman was with a child or children, a person or two people (this is two stories) came up to the woman to compliment her on her beautiful child or whatever and asked "So do you work?" In the first case I think the woman mumbled some reply but the second woman just jetted out of there. When they posted about this, the leader of the FB group said she had heard of this and that it is people being "trained" to approach strangers to try to get them involved in selling something. JUST. SO WEIRD. Not dangerous but weird.
So it's not always just some silly story. And being "followed" or approached may not mean anything criminal at all but IMO it still warrants some pushback. Nobody should feel that's cool, approach some woman alone with a child in a parking lot and start asking her questions, come on. I don't care, it it's just strange and by God if anyone needs fodder for starting FB rumors about awareness these idiots are sure delivering.
My point being, even if you think people are "just" panicking or even if some things can be proven false on social media (well, yeah, LOL) that doesn't mean NONE of the weird reports ever happen or that there's just something wrong with people wanting to spread drama or something. I do agree with caution against just believing and panicking but I don't think it's always just some ridiculous story. Weird things can and do happen and occasionally those weird things can be dangerous. So yeah, this is why I think such things spread...not just because they're scary, and not just because some people are panickers, but because there's always just enough of an element of truth to make them plausible.
ETA: Before anyone asks, no, I did not post an alarming message on FB with a call to spread awareness, LOL. This was just on our own personal/private board.
By the way, in my city we really have had a "follow people around" series of incidents, and yes, they're on the police blotter. This is crazy timing as just yesterday on my town's "moms" FB board we were talking about it. Not in a general way, but two people we all know - we personally know one another, our kids go to the same schools, etc. - literally had this happen. We're not speaking FOR them, they're reporting this directly, asking what to do.
It seems like it's some MLM thing or Herbalife or...you know, something like that. But it all came off in a really, really strange way that did indeed make these women feel frightened. In each case the woman was with a child or children, a person or two people (this is two stories) came up to the woman to compliment her on her beautiful child or whatever and asked "So do you work?" In the first case I think the woman mumbled some reply but the second woman just jetted out of there. When they posted about this, the leader of the FB group said she had heard of this and that it is people being "trained" to approach strangers to try to get them involved in selling something. JUST. SO WEIRD. Not dangerous but weird.
So it's not always just some silly story. And being "followed" or approached may not mean anything criminal at all but IMO it still warrants some pushback. Nobody should feel that's cool, approach some woman alone with a child in a parking lot and start asking her questions, come on. I don't care, it it's just strange and by God if anyone needs fodder for starting FB rumors about awareness these idiots are sure delivering.
My point being, even if you think people are "just" panicking or even if some things can be proven false on social media (well, yeah, LOL) that doesn't mean NONE of the weird reports ever happen or that there's just something wrong with people wanting to spread drama or something. I do agree with caution against just believing and panicking but I don't think it's always just some ridiculous story. Weird things can and do happen and occasionally those weird things can be dangerous. So yeah, this is why I think such things spread...not just because they're scary, and not just because some people are panickers, but because there's always just enough of an element of truth to make them plausible.
ETA: Before anyone asks, no, I did not post an alarming message on FB with a call to spread awareness, LOL. This was just on our own personal/private board.
Huh! I heard about something like that too! Except I want to say it was an Avon person... maybe I read about it on this forum even.
The idea being, butter up the mom, and then point out how she could be selling blah blah blah, and still be a stay at home mom, etc.
But I agree, it's creepy as heck, and just...no. lol
Back around Easter, there was something going around about Cadbury chocolate, and that someone somewhere, who was HIV positive, was spitting, or peeing or...whatever (I don't remember exactly) into vats of chocolate, but Cadbury was refusing to do anything about it, so we were all supposed to boycott Cadbury.
This was passed along by one of my Facebook friends, with the caveat "I don't know if this is true or not, but passing along just in case it might help someone."
Another facebook friend pointed out and provided a link that it was a hoax, and that she should delete her post. But nope, she doubled down on it, and got defensive saying "I said IN CASE it might help someone!" The other person said "How will it help ANYONE if it's a lie?" Her reply was "You never know."
I don't understand why people seem to PREFER getting locked in to their...ignorance on this stuff.
Well, what's truly ignorant is that there's no way anyone could even get HIV from that - sounds like how people thought back in the '80's - very ignorant. Some people just want to scare themselves and others want to feel like they are "helping" by "informing" and thus doing the scaring. Both are very sad types.
In the last couple of years, I've seen several 'stories' on Facebook, that are all very similar. Always, the basic premise is that a woman is in a store with a child or 2, and notices 1 or 2 men following her around the store, behaving suspiciously.
She becomes so suspicious of the guy(s) that she ends up telling the manager of the store, and someone escorts her and her children to her car. There's usually talk about pulling surveillance tapes and getting the police involved.
What I wrote above, is common to all the stories.
But all the stories have specific details, that make them all slightly different, and I guess, thus, more believable. And they happen all over the country. I've heard of these similar stories/incidents happening in Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, and the most recent (to me) in Missouri.
Are you talking about the one in Wentzville, Missouri? I've seen it circulating on social media the past few weeks. I've also seen that exact same story told by other people, except for a change in location. Its fake.
I don't get the mentality of people who post these stories. Is it supposed to be a joke? I don't find human trafficking funny, and I would never make up such a story involving my own child. Maybe they need the attention, and know that such a story will get them a few sympathy comments. But then how awkward is it when someone calls you out on your story?
I also occasionally see the one about the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. They always change the names and locations. And no matter how many times I see it, there are always commenters that are outraged that "Neiman Marcus" would do such a thing. I wondering how many angry calls they get each year over "their" cookie recipe.
Are you talking about the one in Wentzville, Missouri? I've seen it circulating on social media the past few weeks. I've also seen that exact same story told by other people, except for a change in location. Its fake.
I don't get the mentality of people who post these stories. Is it supposed to be a joke? I don't find human trafficking funny, and I would never make up such a story involving my own child. Maybe they need the attention, and know that such a story will get them a few sympathy comments. But then how awkward is it when someone calls you out on your story?
I also occasionally see the one about the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. They always change the names and locations. And no matter how many times I see it, there are always commenters that are outraged that "Neiman Marcus" would do such a thing. I wondering how many angry calls they get each year over "their" cookie recipe.
Yes! Yes! Yes! The one in Wentzville. I don't get the mentality either. It's easy enough to prove or disprove, but maybe the one making it up isn't bright enough (really...I don't know) to think far enough ahead. Someone cynical like you or I could actually call the Wentzville Target, and see if such a thing actually occurred, you know? I shake my head.
"It's always interesting to see which of your "friends" buy into every one that comes down the pike."
This reminds me of my Dad. Before the Internet we had the "National Inquirer" and my Dad believed every word printed in it. After all "it was printed in the paper, so it must be true." Loved the man, but. . . And it was his mother that always told me to "don't believe anything you read, and only half of what you see." How I miss both of them.
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