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My biggest question is why do people get worked up over this? They are clearly dumb, and I don't see what sort of personal gain they would get from this. It's

My biggest question is why do people get worked up over this? They are clearly dumb, and I don't see what sort of personal gain they would get from this. It's not a story of heroism, it's a story of being relatively dumb and surviving by luck. There's not much here to celebrate, so whether or not they are lying, there's not much worse they could look. But the number of people who are getting worked up and feel like they should "expose" these people are much higher than I would have imagined. The other thing is, every single one of the "problems" the post brings up could be easily explained by "They are idiots." There's no mystery that they already seem dumb, why is it such a mystery to the blogger that they were able to survive by simply being lucky and prepared? Their explanations are off because they're dumb and they don't know what they're talking about, but in that context, all their explanations make sense.

astura 9y ago
No, there's plenty to gain from this, fame and fortune. This is the kind of story that leads to TV shows, book deals, movie deals. etc. Plus, of course, the obligatory GoFundMe. The other thing is using The US Navy in this way could be criminal.
- pfarnsworth 9y ago
  There no heroism. They fumbled their way to survival. Unless they want to further humiliate themselves, I don't think there's any deals here. There's no Gofundme either.
  - newlyretired 9y ago
    I think you underestimate the lengths to which some people will go for fame.
    - pfarnsworth 9y ago
      Hanlon's Razor: Don't attribute to malice something that can be better explained by stupidity. These two aren't smart enough to conspire to come up with some ridiculous story for the purpose of fame. We already know they're stupid. Them weaving a tale just for the purpose of fame seems entirely unlikely. That's my opinion anyway.
      - wtallis 9y ago
        > Don't attribute to malice something that can be better explained by stupidity. You haven't provided an explanation grounded in stupidity. Simply agreeing that they are morons doesn't explain anything about why they created this situation and told these specific lies. You've postulated no motive, not even a stupid one.
        pfarnsworth 9y ago
        Wrong. I have. My explanation is that things happened exactly as they perceived because they are idiots, but it’s not what happened in reality. They probably saw dolphins and thought they were sharks. They probably had 10ft waves and they thought they were 40’ waves etc. none of their story makes sense because they are idiots and can’t describd them better because they are idiots. Etc.
  - astura 9y ago
    People want to hear stories like this one - The fact that it was international news in the first place proves that. It doesn't matter if they were heroes or not, "stories that make money" aren't always about heroism. "Survival against all odds" is another popular trope. This would fit in the "survival against all odds" category. People make fools of themselves on reality TV just for the chance of becoming famous.
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  Balloon Boy No Hoax! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVbV_Sis99o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVbV_Sis99o
ChuckMcM 9y ago
That is an interesting question and one I've thought a bit about. There is a strong sense of 'wrongness' in the US culture when Alice tells Bob a lie and Charlie knows it is a lie but Bob doesn't. Later Bob will be offended and ashamed that he believed Alice's lie to be the truth so in anticipation of that wrong, Charlie feels compelled to 'out' the lie and save Bob the embarrassment and hurt. Then when Donna, Edith, and Frank come to Alice's defense and double down on the lie Charlie goes apoplectic trying to defend against it for Bob's sake. I think the challenge here is that uncontested lies that end up in the group consciousness as possible truths can have consequences that effect the group. Perhaps a bad example but one that has happened, is a community that gets a cell tower removed, reducing cell service to everyone in the community, because a group of them believe the cell tower is causing medical conditions to manifest in them. Alice tells Bob his headaches are being caused by the cell tower, Charlie argues that she is mistaken, Donna, Edith, and Frank side with Alice and the tower is removed and now Charlie has to stand on the back corner of his porch to hit the cell tower one neighborhood over to make reliable phone calls. That is the sort of scenario Charlie fears that the lie persisting will create. When people have a few experiences like that, where a lie they knew was a lie, came back and made their life poorer because it wasn't identified as such early on. They start having stronger and stronger reactions to lies like that. Sort of an escalating immune response if you will. That is my current theory on why people get so worked up over stories like this.
- pfarnsworth 9y ago
  I see your point, however, the level of vitriol I see is beyond reasonable. The poster is clearly offended beyond any sense of reasonableness by this story. And he is attacking these two as if they are some master criminals at work. They haven't asked for money as far as I can tell, and they don't even claim to be victims of very much except their own ineptitude. She even says she didn't feel like her life was at risk for any 24 hr period. And yet, the blogger feels obsessed with going over the minutiae of this and trying to prove how these two are con artists, but I don't see the con. I feel like the anger is completely out of place, given the lack of crime, which is fascinating to me. And I've seen several posts like this, which is why it's something I've noticed specifically with this story.

astura 9y ago

No, there's plenty to gain from this, fame and fortune. This is the kind of story that leads to TV shows, book deals, movie deals. etc. Plus, of course, the obligatory GoFundMe. The other thing is using The US Navy in this way could be criminal.

pfarnsworth 9y ago
There no heroism. They fumbled their way to survival. Unless they want to further humiliate themselves, I don't think there's any deals here. There's no Gofundme either.
- newlyretired 9y ago
  I think you underestimate the lengths to which some people will go for fame.
  - pfarnsworth 9y ago
    Hanlon's Razor: Don't attribute to malice something that can be better explained by stupidity. These two aren't smart enough to conspire to come up with some ridiculous story for the purpose of fame. We already know they're stupid. Them weaving a tale just for the purpose of fame seems entirely unlikely. That's my opinion anyway.
    - wtallis 9y ago
      > Don't attribute to malice something that can be better explained by stupidity. You haven't provided an explanation grounded in stupidity. Simply agreeing that they are morons doesn't explain anything about why they created this situation and told these specific lies. You've postulated no motive, not even a stupid one.
      - pfarnsworth 9y ago
        Wrong. I have. My explanation is that things happened exactly as they perceived because they are idiots, but it’s not what happened in reality. They probably saw dolphins and thought they were sharks. They probably had 10ft waves and they thought they were 40’ waves etc. none of their story makes sense because they are idiots and can’t describd them better because they are idiots. Etc.
- astura 9y ago
  People want to hear stories like this one - The fact that it was international news in the first place proves that. It doesn't matter if they were heroes or not, "stories that make money" aren't always about heroism. "Survival against all odds" is another popular trope. This would fit in the "survival against all odds" category. People make fools of themselves on reality TV just for the chance of becoming famous.
DonHopkins 9y ago
Balloon Boy No Hoax! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVbV_Sis99o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVbV_Sis99o

ChuckMcM 9y ago

That is an interesting question and one I've thought a bit about. There is a strong sense of 'wrongness' in the US culture when Alice tells Bob a lie and Charlie knows it is a lie but Bob doesn't. Later Bob will be offended and ashamed that he believed Alice's lie to be the truth so in anticipation of that wrong, Charlie feels compelled to 'out' the lie and save Bob the embarrassment and hurt. Then when Donna, Edith, and Frank come to Alice's defense and double down on the lie Charlie goes apoplectic trying to defend against it for Bob's sake. I think the challenge here is that uncontested lies that end up in the group consciousness as possible truths can have consequences that effect the group. Perhaps a bad example but one that has happened, is a community that gets a cell tower removed, reducing cell service to everyone in the community, because a group of them believe the cell tower is causing medical conditions to manifest in them. Alice tells Bob his headaches are being caused by the cell tower, Charlie argues that she is mistaken, Donna, Edith, and Frank side with Alice and the tower is removed and now Charlie has to stand on the back corner of his porch to hit the cell tower one neighborhood over to make reliable phone calls. That is the sort of scenario Charlie fears that the lie persisting will create. When people have a few experiences like that, where a lie they knew was a lie, came back and made their life poorer because it wasn't identified as such early on. They start having stronger and stronger reactions to lies like that. Sort of an escalating immune response if you will. That is my current theory on why people get so worked up over stories like this.

pfarnsworth 9y ago
I see your point, however, the level of vitriol I see is beyond reasonable. The poster is clearly offended beyond any sense of reasonableness by this story. And he is attacking these two as if they are some master criminals at work. They haven't asked for money as far as I can tell, and they don't even claim to be victims of very much except their own ineptitude. She even says she didn't feel like her life was at risk for any 24 hr period. And yet, the blogger feels obsessed with going over the minutiae of this and trying to prove how these two are con artists, but I don't see the con. I feel like the anger is completely out of place, given the lack of crime, which is fascinating to me. And I've seen several posts like this, which is why it's something I've noticed specifically with this story.