A community Snoops or gossip buster would be awesome - especially in a small town. It should be a regular column in the newspaper or an on-line community blog. Someone is thought to be spreading a lie, request the community Snoop to investigate. Gossip buster checks it out - really checks it out! And they publicly report results.
It could even generate a little revenue, but really should be a public service. It has to be someone with strong investigative skills and a commitment to exposing lies. Perhaps an off duty police officer or an attorney.
Lies can be damaging. Scammers lie. Usually small towns sort that out in time, but the scammer can fool a lot of people before hand.
What do you think folks? Does Venango County need a Snoops?
Today I mentioned a scammer to one of my friends in community who actually recognized said scammer and was aware - unlike so many who have not been here forever. Don't think my friend is up to the snoops job though, fulltime, however...time does a good job on its own to snoop out the demerits of scammers!
ReplyDeleteA whole host of things today let me know what you say is true. Our truest friends keep us focused on being ourselves - being true to our convictions and not wasting energy where it is not deserved. But I will say, if someone is up to the challenge of being a community Gossip buster, I might have a few dollars saved for such an endeavor. But maybe there are some things money cannot buy.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time the scammers and gossipers are failures in their own ventures so they feel the need to put blame on someone else versus standing up and taking responsibility of their own. They also don’t have a lot of friends and they are not respected in the community (red flag) because they are only focused on what they can get for themselves and who their next victim is going to be. It is very sad but true! I do believe that some people are born with bad blood, but many I believe are victims of the circumstances of their upbringing, bad things that have happened to them as a child. They were never taught how to treat others or they are acting like those who raised them (a vicious cycle). How do you feel about that? I also fully believe the statement; sometimes it just takes a little time…… scammers eventually will get caught!
ReplyDeleteI think snopes.com works because it is broad-based, anonymous, and addresses urban legends and hoaxes. In a small town, it would turn into he-said, she-said very quickly and factions would form based on who is friends with whom . . . all the things that happen anyway!
ReplyDeleteYou said it yourself -- why give a scammer your energy? Trying to figure out why the bad guys are the way they are or how to stop them just gives them your energy. It is just a subtle way of continuing to engage with someone you should be steering clear of. Your attention is still circling around on the scammer instead of moving forward on something positive.
Disengage! Develop your intuition! Keep yourself safe from people like that! Don't feed the trolls!
Ahhhh! This is a good explanation for why snoop.com works and noone has tried it on a smaller, local scale.
ReplyDeleteOk - back to spending money on funky funny instruments.