Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Munchausen Syndrome?

"I learned a very important lesson that night. People believe whatever they read. Something magical happens once it’s put down on paper. They figure no one would have gone through the trouble if it wasn't the truth.”
Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon movie, Biloxi Blues

It amazes me quite a lot how people believe, without question, what they read. Taking advantage of this, some writers write sensational journalism. Some others have the chutzpah to write anything in order to get attention, sympathy, and pity. Recently I came across one like this.

Here is this writer. He is a real jerk and a joker. He recently put up a "stunt" for getting sympathy from his readers and behaved like an idiot. In a particular post, he wrote that this was his last post and he is quitting blogging. And, the innocent readers believed that and pleaded with him not to quit. Next week he said “gotcha”. He said he wanted to lighten up, could not find anything to write, and therefore performed this stunt. Looks like a guy who writes his own obituary, publishes it, and reads it for the fun of it.

We don’t know what kind of other stunts he is capable of performing to gain sympathy and pity from others.

And then, there are a few people suffer from Munchausen Syndrome. Munchausen syndrome is a disorder wherein those affected would do anything to draw attention or sympathy. These people tend to seek sympathy to feel cared for, and understood. They use their writing as an attention seeking device. They are desperate. I feel sorry for those few.

18 comments:

  1. Truly. Did u read abt the lady who blogged abt a difficult pregnancy & the subsequent birth & death of the infant. All lies to gain sympathy & traffic to her blog!!!
    That syndrome even has a name??? Gosh where do u get ur data from?

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  2. Thanks for your comments MindfulMeanderer. Never heard about the "difficult pregnancy" blog. Quite interesting. Yes, you are right. All lies to gain sympathy.

    I did not make up this syndrome name. It is a real name. If you want more info, you can "google" it.

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  3. There is a lot to comment on, regarding that blog you wrote, and I mean besides the Munchausen part.

    First, the writer who put up the "quitting stunt" to gain sympathy is just an ASS. If he wrote it on April 1 (April Fools Day)…then it’s understandable.
    Otherwise it’s not a cool thing to do, having innocent readers plead with him not to quit only to get a GOTCHA reply. I’m sure he has alienated some readers and now it’s the blog followers turn to tell him that they will quit following his blog and he should now plead with them.

    In addition to the Biloxi Blues quote – I have another one for you.
    “Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”
    Said by The Great Creole Philosopher - Joseph Philmore Poitier

    Lastly, I never understood why people believe everything they read either.
    If you want to know more about Outer Space, Global Warming, or 1950’s culture in IndoChina then have discussions with experts – don’t blindly follow a writer/journalist.
    That same writer/journalist will eloquently write about all 3 different topics but is not even a remote expert at anything. He/she is only good at…WRITING…not the topic being discussed.

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  4. That blogger who posted that we was going to stop blogging only to proclaim it as a big joke sounds like a complete idiot. Hopefully anyone who reads that blog quickly abandons ship and blacklists that guy. That way, the readers will have the last laugh.

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  5. Hey nice post. I like reading your posts.

    Best way to handle these people - Ignore them.

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  6. Thanks for your comments The Cagey Bee. You are correct. He could have done this on an April Fool's Day. That was a nice quote from Mr. Poitier. Good at WRITING? In this case a C minus.

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  7. Thanks for your comments Anonymous. You are absolutely right. Hope the readers abandon the ship and blaklists this guy. As you said the readers will then have the last laugh.

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  8. Thanks for your comments A. You have a sound advice. The best way to handle them is to ignore them.

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  9. I agree with The Cagey Bee. Very well said. What kind of a mean mean stunt is that?!!! I never knew that there was a name to it btw.

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  10. I've seen quite a few people make "I am going to stop blogging" announcements and then come back and say I've decided not to do that. Pathetic, if you ask me. Like so many people before have said, the best thing to do is ignore these people.

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  11. Thanks for your comments Lostworld. Yes, it is a mean very mean stunt.

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  12. Thanks for your comments Jayashree. As you correctly said it is pathetic. The best thing is to ignore these idiots.

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  13. There are quite a few of that kind. I wonder what they get out of it. Don't they lose some friends in the bargain. You cannot fool everyone all the time!

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  14. Thanks for your comments Radha. Yes, they cannot fool everyone all the time.

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  15. Thanks for your lovely comment.
    I always enjoy reading your post. Its very nice and interesting. I feel that nobody should stop blogging and if a person decided then there is no need to tell everybody. Its difficult to stop blogging as I feel its good to write and also to read different blogs.

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  16. Thanks for your comments Babli. And, thanks for your complements also. This writer pretended to stop writing and wanted to fool his readers. That is not kosher.

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  17. SG
    Nice infotainment and new word I learnt from you. Getting back to routine work slowly. i have to read your earlier posts, of your vacation. That would take another wk as I am in Chennai, busy with some assignments.
    see you.

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  18. Thanks for your comments Chitra. I am so glad you want to read all 4 of my travelogue.

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