A hoax is a falsehood that is meant to mask the truth. Most of the time it is used to prove something exists and reinvigorate the ideas of urban legends and rumors. They have been used time and time again, and have been progressively more clever than the last. Hoaxes have been a form of deceptions that confuse both researchers and society to this day. The term hoax comes from the old english word hocus, which means to cheat on. Although hoaxes are similar to practical jokes, the difference lies in their complexity. Whilst a practical joke is normally not very in-depth but meant to only impact a few people.
Zhang Yingyu, a chinese writer around the Wanli period of china (1563-1620), wrote the “Book of Swindles”, a book compiled with several short stories about deception, swindles, fraud, and hoaxes. Each story is classified with over twenty four types of swindles based on a number of features. The main point of the book is to teach society how to avoid getting swindled, though it also gives tips to the art of deception, strangely enough. Many of the stories involve ordinary folk like peasants or peddlers. The book takes place in an imaginary realm of rivers and lakes, called jianghu. Jianghu itself was meant to be a safe place for political exiles, criminals, and spiritual people. However, it can also be dangerous as the strangers of the land may turn out to be preying on your goods.
The book categorizes twenty four types of swindles, these types are as follows.
1.Misdirection and theft
2. The bag drop
3.Money changing
4.Misrepresentation
5.False relations
6. Brokers;
7.Enticement to Gambling
8.Showing Off Wealth
9.Scheming for Wealth
10.Robbery
11.Violence
12.On Boats
13.Poetry
14.Fake Silver
15.Government Underlings
16.Marriage
17.Illicit Passion
18. Women
19.Kidnapping
20. Corruption in Education
21. Monks and Priests
22.Alchemy
23.Sorcery
24.Pandering
Although hoaxes have actually existed since the dawn of the human age, the earliest hoax that has been documented is the drummer of Tedworth in 1681. The drummer of Tedworth, was a hoax of a poltergeist haunting of a drummer, though experts state that the noises of the drummer were done by small children making an impractical joke. At first, this hoax did not go very far, it was only communicated about from word to word, or mouth to mouth. As communication advanced however, hoaxes started to spread more rapidly, to the point of becoming a rumor or an urban legend.
Hoaxes are commonly used today for a variety of purposes. Many militaries use them as a way to deceive incoming troops, or use it as a way of creating psychological warfare. Many politicians use hoaxes as a way to get ahead of their opponent, or create falsified information to further their own agendas. They are used to create some sort of myth or change in the way a large amount of society sees things. Other times, like the hoax of the hodag, they are used to make a quick buck on unsuspecting victims.
The hodag of wisconsin
Book of swindles
No comments:
Post a Comment