Martes, Hunyo 16, 2015

5 Compulsive Liars Who Got Caught—and Skewered by the Internet

Rachel Dolezal is just the latest example.

Nowadays, if a person gets caught in a really big lie, they don't just have their closest friends and family members to answer to: They also have to face the ultimate judge and jury, social media. And social media is pretty unforgiving. Case in point: The recent skewering of Rachel Dolezal (shown above), a civil rights activist who was outed by her parents for posing as black for about a decade. Here's a very small sampling of some of the things people tweeted upon hearing the story.

Dolezal was president of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP, up until this morning, when she stepped down from the position amid the scandal.

The Spokane NAACP chapter posted this note from Rachel to their Facebook page earlier today:

Dear Executive Committee and NAACP Members, It is a true honor to serve in the racial and social justice movement here...

Posted by Spokane NAACP on Monday, June 15, 2015

Rachel isn't the only woman who has faced the wrath of the Internet for telling big, big lies. Just check out these four other shocking examples:

Belle Gibson
In one of the more well-known and complex cases of all time, Belle, an Australian wellness advocate, claimed to have healed her terminal brain cancer by eating whole foods and using alternative therapies. She had an array of followers, a successful app, and a best-selling cookbook when people starting realizing this past spring that there were some seriously gaping holes in her story. "I don't want forgiveness,” she told Australian Women’s Weekly in an exclusive interview in their May issue after the news broke. “I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, 'Okay, she's human.'"

Australian Women's Weekly

I sincerely hope I'm proven wrong about this and I'm mostly unfollowing because I can't stand to see the negativity on my feed, as I do prescribe to the theory of innocent until proven guilty. But what makes me sick to my stomach is the thought of cancer patients, who, in their desperation have found hope in Belles story, and, in the early stages of cancer, when treatment is so crucial, have turned their backs on it. What now for those people, for their families? Exploitation is one thing when it's $3.49 for an app or even $30 for a book. People can recover from that. But to play with people's lives, and one chance at survival. That is unforgivable. All I can hope for now, if Belle has lied about her own story, is that she at least stole it from someone else. Then, at least, the hope need not die. #healingbelle #twp #thewholepantry #naturalremedies #cancersurvivor #nongmo #healthylife #treatment #bellegibson #lies #cancer #wellness #cleaneating #heartbreaking

A photo posted by Ella (@formephysique) on

RELATED: What Drives Someone to Lie About Having a Serious Illness?

Kendall Schler
Kendall crossed the finish line of the 2015 Go! St. Louis Marathon in April with a time of 2:50:30. She was declared winner pending validation, got to pose for a photo with Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Olympic legend and gold medalist), and was invited to participate in the Boston Marathon based on her recorded finishing times from this marathon and the same one in 2014, reports KSDK. That all would have been really impressive if Kendall had actually run the race. Turns out, it doesn’t seem like she did. According to KSDK, the suspicion is that Kendall snuck onto the course somewhere after the last checkpoint and pulled the same stunt when she finished in third in 2014. She was disqualified for both races.

Kelly Johanneson
Sadly, it seems like this type of story emerges every couple of years: Kelly Johanneson of Florida was recently charged with fraud after she lied about being diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in order to reportedly profit off of donations made for her doctor’s bills and expenses, according to My Fox Tampa Bay. Investigators said Kelly made at least $4,400 via a "GoFundMe" page. The local airboat alliance also apparently held a large fundraiser for Kelly, and at the time this article from My Fox Tampa Bay was published, investigators weren’t sure how much money was raised in total.

FOX 13 News

RELATED: Digital Deception: How to Tell if Someone’s Lying Online

Dayna Morales
Dayna is a former Marine and was a server at a restaurant in New Jersey in 2013 when she said she got a receipt from a couple that had the tip line crossed out and this note written on the paper: "I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and how you live your life." The receipt ended up on Facebook, and Dayna began receiving thousands of dollars of donations—until a couple noticed that the receipt looked eerily like their own, except they say they hadn’t written that message and they had given a tip. In fact they had a credit card statement to prove that last part, reports NBC 4 New York. Dayna no longer works at the restaurant, according to ABC News.

rachel-dolezal.jpg

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