http://metachat.org/index.php?disp=comments en-US http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:45:42 +0000 c503388@http://metachat.org According to this list, the only children who died were on the airplanes. this list, the only children who died were on the airplanes. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503388 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:55:55 +0000 c503389@http://metachat.org He was late? Seems like an fishy, irrelevant detail. I mean, either he was there when the first plane hit or he wasn't. He didn't show up late for the field trip and then just join up with his surviving classmates hiding in the store. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503389 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:15:28 +0000 c503391@http://metachat.org He's probably an FBI agent in deep cover, fishing for terrorist sympathizers. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503391 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:33:59 +0000 c503392@http://metachat.org I agree with Joe. I'm not blowing my cover, especially after having just finished LeCarre's "Absolute Friends" last night, which broke my heart. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503392 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:17:10 +0000 c503393@http://metachat.org It always astounds me that someone can tell a story like that so vividly and yet it's not true. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503393 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:33:15 +0000 c503394@http://metachat.org How old is he, out of curiosity? http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503394 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:40:15 +0000 c503395@http://metachat.org Since my brother used to work directly for the Lakers and Kings (and now works for a contractor, but same job), he used to get all this swag, including old warm-ups, sweats, jackets, etc. I had this Laker jacket on one day here in Oregon, and an elderly woman on the street complimented me on it and asked me where I got it. I said that, although she probably had never heard of me, I was on the team for a brief while (12th man, but still). She ate this up, wanting to know more and I was maybe about 3 sentences into the lie when I came to my senses and told her I was kidding. It taught me how easy it is to lie, when there is no investment in it.
I had this Laker jacket on one day here in Oregon, and an elderly woman on the street complimented me on it and asked me where I got it. I said that, although she probably had never heard of me, I was on the team for a brief while (12th man, but still).

She ate this up, wanting to know more and I was maybe about 3 sentences into the lie when I came to my senses and told her I was kidding.

It taught me how easy it is to lie, when there is no investment in it.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503395 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:24:41 +0000 c503401@http://metachat.org So what do you do in a situation like this: show him the link JanetLand posted and call him out or just let it slide? http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503401 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:29:31 +0000 c503403@http://metachat.org He's in college, probably early 20s, kind of strikes me as a little flakey. I am just going to watch and see if he says anything else weird, and check to make sure his paper isn't plagiarized. I'm not a psychologist, and I don't think my saying anything would change him. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503403 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:20:32 +0000 c503408@http://metachat.org It's especially fishy given the planes hit before 9am. The viewing platform wasn't open. I've never heard anything about tourists dying. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503408 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:34:28 +0000 c503411@http://metachat.org Time to go read that recent Mefi thread on pathological liars. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503411 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:19:43 +0000 c503422@http://metachat.org No - this isn't a true story. But you have to wonder how much traction he's gotten out of it. And what it does for him that he tells it. And what other parts of his life are similarly not reality-based.
But you have to wonder how much traction he's gotten out of it. And what it does for him that he tells it. And what other parts of his life are similarly not reality-based.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503422 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:24:52 +0000 c503424@http://metachat.org Years ago, when I was 11, a boy in my class was hit by a train while crossing the tracks to get to a ball field. Within days, a girl in our class (who had a rough home life and was probably looking for attention) claimed that she had seen him, and tried to grab his hand to get him out of the way. I knew it was a lie, but I just nodded my head and "Oh, WOW"'d her. Attention is the only thing I can gather that this young man gets from his story. The feeling that people are shocked and saddended for him ("Oh, you poor thing! HOw did you feel?") makes him feel important, perhaps makes him feel like "somebody". It's a shame; he'll probably use this or other similar stories for the rest of his life. http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503424 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:36:34 +0000 c503512@http://metachat.org Snopes calls this sort of thing a sort of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Also, WRT redvixen's example above, that sounds very much like what James Frey included in his pseudomemoir, A Million Little Pieces, concerning a classmate that had been hit by a train. this sort of thing a sort of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Also, WRT redvixen's example above, that sounds very much like what James Frey included in his pseudomemoir, A Million Little Pieces, concerning a classmate that had been hit by a train. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503512 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:19:15 +0000 c503570@http://metachat.org He's in college, probably early 20s My goodness, I thought you were talking about elementary school kids! That is very strange. I believe I've mentioned my former roommate who had a habit of telling stories/lies to get attention/sound cool, but this is 100x bigger than anything I've ever heard him say. He's in college, probably early 20s

My goodness, I thought you were talking about elementary school kids!

That is very strange. I believe I've mentioned my former roommate who had a habit of telling stories/lies to get attention/sound cool, but this is 100x bigger than anything I've ever heard him say.]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503570 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:33:45 +0000 c503616@http://metachat.org He's in college, probably early 20s My goodness, I thought you were talking about elementary school kids! Well...if he's in his early 20's, then the class trip would have been while they were elementary students...or middle school. Still young enough to have been listed as "children". Also, given the sheer volume of coverage, if half a class of visiting kids had died...there would have been a ton of news coverage about it. He's in college, probably early 20s

My goodness, I thought you were talking about elementary school kids!

Well...if he's in his early 20's, then the class trip would have been while they were elementary students...or middle school. Still young enough to have been listed as "children". Also, given the sheer volume of coverage, if half a class of visiting kids had died...there would have been a ton of news coverage about it. ]]> http://metachat.org/index.php/2009/09/16/one_of_my_students_said_he_was_on_a_fiel_11#c503616