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I've read 4 stories on Facebook, that are all very similar, in the last 3 or 4 months.
The basic story is always a mother, in a store, and she notices someone paying too close attention to herself, or to her children.
In one story, it was a man and a woman. In another story, a man grabbed one of the kids and tried to walk away, and in the other stories, it's a guy standing too close to the kids or herself, thus creeping the mother out.
In the latest story, that I read today, the mother (posting on her facebook page) stated that she was at a Walmart with her 3 kids, when this guy started following them, and it eventually made her so nervous and creeped out that she called her husband, ( who apparently worked very close by, as he was there in 3 minutes.) who came to rescue them, and THEN they proceeded to tell the manager at Walmart about it. Then she stated that the police were called.
THEN it came out that Walmart had not called the police. The FB person said she THOUGHT Walmart had called the police, but then found out they hadn't, so SHE called the police instead, and they were currently going through video. That was apparently her last statement on the matter.
THEN it comes out, that the police know NOTHING about the whole incident, and THEN it comes out that Walmart calls BS on the whole thing, and says what DID happen, was that they had a shoplifting incident that same day...but that was it.
So...like I said, this is the 4th story I've read on FB, about some creepster following a mom and children around a store, and OMG! Be careful! stories.
Why am I posting this in Psychology? Because I'm thinking that human kind like to have their boogey men. For the life of me, I don't know how this woman thought she was going to get away with these shenanigans, unless she was using a fake facebook page...
But it strikes me that it's not a new phenomenon, it's just that now, things go viral, so there's always someone who will eventually call out the BS.
When I was in my 20's, and working in an office filled with women, we got a new employee, who was new to St. Louis area, from North or South Dakota...I forget which Dakota it was. One day, she went on and on about how bad the Indians were there, and how you had to REALLY keep an eye on your kids and babies...especially blond haired blue eyed babies, because the Indians would snatch and steal them away. And since SHE was a blond haired child, she always had to watch out for the Indians. Besides which, they're dirty, lazy, and blah blah blah.
People. I'M part NA. THIS wackadoodle BS was making my blood boil. I finally spoke up, interrupting her, telling her that I'M part Native American, and that her generalizations were hurtful, and most likely a pile of lies. It shut her right up. Well, truthfully, it shut everyone up for a couple of hours. LOL But again...a boogey man story.
When slavery was rampant, it was the animalistic black man, who wanted to rape the white plantation owners' women...another boogey man.
It seems like it's a psychological "thing".
I get what you're saying, but there are two different types of "boogey men" here. In the first instance, it's people using (generally) made up stories to scare other people- usually women and children- that molesters/rapists/pedophiles are following and targeting them. While it does happen, it doesn't usually happen the way it's described in these stories. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose is other than to ratchet up people's fear.
In your second example, though, those "boogey man" stories have a very significant purpose, and that's to prevent race mixing. If you tell people - again, especially women and children- stories to terrify them of these other, usually brown, people then you are preventing miscegenation and doing your part to keep the white race pure. THOSE stories have always had a very specific purpose, even if those repeating them don't understand it.
One of these Facebook posts happened to someone I know at a store a few miles from my house. The video tapes prove the whole thing. This woman got a creepy feeling while checking out so she repeatedly would turn her cart around and go to a different part of the store to wait for these men to check out only they'd do the same thing, waiting for her. This situation was very weird and again the video tapes prove the whole thing. So this does happen, although I am sure some of those situations are urban legend takeoffs of other stories.
The women I know who say things like this -- or who make a point to constantly mention on Facebook that a man hit on them at this place or that, or whatever -- are all people who seem to REALLY love attention. They really seem to love the comments that they get. I'm not going to say that all of these stories are fake, but I think a lot of them are.
Some woman posted a picture of her 'mother' on facebook saying her mom dangled her feet into the ocean for 30 seconds and her leg was currently being eaten off by a flesh eating bacteria at UNC Hospital.
Both officials in Myrtle Beach and the CDC cannot find the woman or any truth to the story.
Facebook brings out the worst in people. I don't believe most stories that people post on Facebook unless I know and trust the person. But people I know don't post that type of stuff.
The women I know who say things like this -- or who make a point to constantly mention on Facebook that a man hit on them at this place or that, or whatever -- are all people who seem to REALLY love attention. They really seem to love the comments that they get. I'm not going to say that all of these stories are fake, but I think a lot of them are.
I have noticed unattractive women, and some 100 lbs or more overweight, will want to be the "victim" of sexual harassment thats actually non existent.
I haven't seen that particular story but the one that set my BS-ometer ringing lately was the story about men in the Walmart parking lot going around "selling perfume" and trying to get you to sniff their perfume samples but it's actually ether on a cloth and you instantly pass out and they abduct you. I didn't even bother looking it up on Snopes as I can't imagine anyone dumb enough to buy perfume from some guy in the WM parking lot and I don't really think ether works that quickly anyway.
I think the people who post this stuff are just seeking for attention in the same way as the posters where they tell a tear jerking story and then urge you to post it to everyone you know, or the quizzes that tell you that you're a genius if you make a certain score on the "smarter than a 5th grader" level questions and I don't really understand that level of attention seeking but it runs rampant in today's world apparently. I wonder how many of these people are posting these things from their desk at work? LOL
Click-bait should be easy to spot these days. Sometimes people post sensationalistic BS on Facebook just so you'll go to this website, make it "viral" and they'll get ad revenue from the high clicks to the page. What is annoying is that stalkery Facebook will use what you actually linger and read or click on or even talk verbally about where your phone can hear you (passive listening, which you totally gave permission for when you installed the app) in their algorithms to target you with the kind of headlines you might actually click. (Helping others fish you with the right bait, I guess.)
I actually get kind of annoyed when they bait me with stuff I really don't care about. If they are gonna be creepy, they ought to be better at it than this.
To the subject of this particular piece of paranoia... When I was a kid, statistically both the nation AND the specific area where I grew up (Northern Virginia) were more dangerous than they are today. In the 80's, violent crime, sexual assault, and child abduction was more of a risk than it is RIGHT NOW both in the US, and in that area. According, at least, to crime stats published online by federal and state agencies. Yet my parents let me run wild and unmonitored, with no cell phone, no idea where I was, all by myself, all through the neighborhoods and surrounding forests where we lived, all day long. The worst that happened was that I got run off by some dogs when I trespassed on a private residence located way out in the woods (I didn't even know it existed until I "discovered" it) and once in a while I came home without my shoes, having lost them in the creek or something.
Now...there is no way parents feel safe letting their kids run loose like that. Even though it's actually safer, in theory, at least according to the data. Who knows though, maybe it's statistically safer BECAUSE parents are more vigilant. I couldn't say.
I really don't think there is anything wrong with situational awareness. But I also think there is virtue in (when it seems safe) kindness to strangers, and I don't like going through life in a state of fear and distrust of people in general. As for Facebook...I ignore the stupid stuff (scroll, scroll, scroll) and use it to share cat pictures and funnies.
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THOSE stories have always had a very specific purpose, even if those repeating them don't understand it.
