Okay, I got taken in and passed along the “carjacking hoax” to all and sundry. Sincere apologies to all who got a nose-out-of-joint reaction going, but I almost never pass stuff like that along, and thought my source was reliable, coming from a former denizen of a Sheriff’s Dept… Silly me.
In any event, opinions on the value of that are mixed, some rape prevention centers saying it’a a sort of good thing, because just the existence of such a hoax gives some people ideas…
I don’t know, but I don’t like getting beaten up for being an idiot, so it won’t happen again. The mailing lists are gone. Fool me once…
Sorry to all who got bent out of shape, and thanks to the ones who treated me like a human who screws up like one on occasion, and just laughed at what I dummy I was.
Bill Whedon
Certifiable Dunce
Yeah, I don’t think it’s a hoax. I received it a year ago for the first time, and it could easily happen. I have to be extra careful, because my car usually has a small child in it (when I am in it).
Snopes originally had this as undetermined, but now lists it as false, and lists some very logical reasons for it. It’s been circulating for 18 months, and yet no documented cases of it happening in the news or from the police.
Carjacking is usually a crime of impulse and opportunity. Car thievery is usually a crime of stealth. This scheme is neither.
Imagine the scene: Running around madly to tape flyers on all cars in a parking lot, hanging out and waiting without drawing suspicion, and running toward the car that happens to have someone getting in it, without anyone noticing, so they can jump in just at the right time. Seen in this total context (rather than narrowly painted picture of the email) the alleged scheme quickly becomes farcical.
Don’t sweat it, you were being concerned and helpful. If people got bent out of shape, that’s their problem. Besides, as someone else pointed out, this is something that could still easily happen. Why wouldn’t it work?
But, you have a valid concern, the good samaritan isn’t always appreciated. Unfortunately, human nature is ever present, like gravity, and ready to criticize or pick a fight. Humans, it seems, haven’t evolved all that much through the time we’ve been here.
