Hoax Alert - Part 1

Don't believe everything you read.

A few months ago, my uncle received an email that rang a few alarm bells. It was one of those things that gets forwarded from person to person across borders and barriers, with adaptations to make it appear local. don't know what it was that set Uncle Ken's spidey senses tingling, but mine were in hyperdrive before I'd finished reading the headline.

I've reproduced the email below.

THE MAYOR OF MARYBOROUGH, VICTORIA HAS REFUSED TO REMOVE PORK FROM THEIR SCHOOLS CAFETERIA MENUS AND EXPLAINS WHY 

Muslim parents demanded the abolition of pork in all the school canteens of Maryborough. The Mayor of Maryborough has refused, and the town clerk sent a note to all parents to explain why. 

"Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Australia, its customs, its traditions, and its way of life, because that's where they chose to immigrate. 

"Muslims must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Australia. They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not the Australians who, so generously welcomed them.

 

"Australians are neither racist nor xenophobic. Australia accepted many immigrants before Muslims showed up (whereas the reverse is not true, in that Muslim states will not accept non-Muslim immigrants). 

"Just like other nations, Australians are not willing to give up their identity or their culture. And, since Australia is a land of welcome, it's not the Mayor of Maryborough who welcomes foreigners, but the Australian people as a whole. 

"Finally, they must understand that in Australia with its Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain." Australia is absolutely right to refuse any concessions to Islam and Sharia. 

"For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable in Australia, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms in accordance with Sharia. 

"If you left your country for Australia, and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered that life is better in Australia than elsewhere. We will not let you drag Australia down to the level of those 57 countries."Ask yourself this question - just once, "Why is it better here in Australia than where you came from?" 

"A canteen with pork on the menu is not the problem – it is part of the answer. If you came to Australia with the idea that you will displace us with your prolific propagation and eventually take over the country, you should pack up and go back to the country you came from. We have no room here for you or your ideology. 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. AUSTRALIA -- LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT !!!MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY AND WELL

I read these words through a couple of times, and aside from the anti-Islam undertones, three things stood out. Firstly, in Australia, Mayors have nothing to do with how schools are run. Schools are a state government responsibility. Secondly, the place where students eat is called the tuck shop, or the canteen. In Aussie schools, we tend not to refer to them as cafeterias. Lastly, there is no mention of the mayor's name, the school's name, or the name of the organisation that petitioned the mayor. It's just too vague to be credible.

Off I went to Internet myth busting specialists, snopes.com, who tracked the tale back to the Belgian town of Ath, in 2013. The mayor of Ath has denied ever being approached by anyone with regard to pork in the school cafeteria. The email showed up in Canada in 2015, with the details changed to a local town, and most recently, started circulating in Australia earlier this year, with the location changed to Maryborough, Vic. The slopes.com verdict has itself been shared on Facebook over 5,000 times.

In short, the email is simply untrue. It's all make believe. It tells of a events which did not happen, but passes them off as fact. Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone deliberately concoct and distribute a fiction which encourages the reader to feel negatively towards a specific ethnic group? The only answer is because the author - and to a lesser extent, the forwarder - wants you to feel angry, aggrieved, hostile towards that ethnic group.

Meanwhile, the Australian version of the email has made it to Facebook, where I saw it a few days ago, shared by someone I've known forever. Politely yet firmly, I made her aware that the story was a nasty hoax designed to spread hatred.

Her response was stunning...at least to me. She accepts that the events may be untrue but she agrees with a lot of things said in the post, and as it wasn't abusive, she believes she has every right to share it. And I agree with that, at least. She has every right to form an opinion and express it...but when faced with evidence that the story is false, surely a reasonable person would at least reconsider sharing it. She is publishing and endorsing something she knows to be a lie because the lie supports her existing opinion. I find that both close-minded and irresponsible.

I am unable to cut and paste the Facebook exchange, as she seems to have blocked me on Facebook. I did track her the FB post she shared back to a Mr Gary Smith of Hervey Bay, and I've contacted him for comment, without response. Mr Smith's FB page includes numerous Reclaim Australia style posts, plus another post, an anti-Islam meme-style image which is also listed as false by snopes.com. It's pasted here for your reference. 

Stay tuned - I have more hoax alerts to share.