Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

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hoi.polloi
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Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

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Expose the Hoax Day!

Also known in various parts* as Bufala Day, Hoaxmas, UnHoaxmas, Dia Del Memo or 바보로로 (Babo-Roro)
is universally celebrated around the world on September 11th, the closest Saturday to the 11th every year (since everybody seems to be free on Saturdays) or throughout the week of September 11th.

What will you do on September 11th this year? What did you do? Share your thoughts and ideas. Here are some fun family activities you can do at home, with friends with family or on your own!

*Expose The Hoax Day is not actually known anywhere as of this post, it was completely invented by Simon and me during an inspired chat session but let's work to change that, add your own elements to the fun and make ETH-Day one of the most memorable and favorite holidays of our world!

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HOAXMAS EVE
For the whole family

Time: September 10th in the evening

Children carefully make their preparations for the next day's big hoax. Adults must go to bed early for once, and leave the children to take over the living room at night (with the parents secretly approving, watching and listening in their own way of course). The children are allowed to use materials they have gathered earlier but they are not allowed to leave home and get more materials they are missing. Traps such as tripwire used to knock over a couple of bookshelves may be used, but when the Jester appears (Saintly Uncle Frank or Aunt Agnes of course in disguise) the children must quickly explain how the hoax is all in good fun and demonstrate to them how it will work, and the Jester helps come up with some tips to making it fun and/or funny.

Time: September 11th in the morning

Adults wake up to an ordinary bright clear day and enter the living room to set off the trap. Auntie or Uncle "secretly" indicate to the children that (s)he is the Jester now in plainsclothes, and makes sure to follow their directions by coaxing parents to fall for the trap, press the right button on the remote control, play the right funny DVD or knock over the right books. (The Jester has made sure that nothing bad will actually happen and nobody can really get hurt but he helps the kids feel mischievous). Of course many red herrings are planted such as being asked to pass the salt in exaggerated tones only to find that nothing has been done to the salt. Parents indulge the whims of the children (with help from the Jester's script) and the parents are prepared in the morning with not their best clothes on just in case the trick involves being covered in something messy like chalk or paint in the end.

After children laugh at the parents' humiliation, everyone laughs and tells their side of the story -- explaining how the trick worked and the children probably say when they were nervous or thought it wouldn't work. If the trick doesn't work, the Jester dries tears and explains a better trick for next year. The parents now get to demand the Jester do something special as a favor, so (s)he takes all the punishment for the children. Usually this involves the Jester presenting a specially wrapped gift for the occasion. Or taking the family out for special breakfast. A good time is had by all! Where appropriate, kids don't have to go to school and adults don't have to go to work. Where it isn't appropriate, everyone takes a day off anyway ... for "Patriotic" reasons. :P


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BUFALA DINNER PARTY
For adults and mature kids

Time: September 11th in the evening

Grandma or perhaps another matriarch has especially prepared to get some information out of someone. She has made one very special bufala cheese that looks like normal bufala, but instead of liquid cream inside there is a large stone (or something edible but very hard)! After an almost filling dinner and a light introduction, everyone gets their cheese (or cheesecake or what-have-you) and at the signal digs into their food. Eager glances and nervous giggles are passed around the table as everyone wonders for a terrifying moment who is going to have to expose themselves. The person who hits the stone with their fork hangs their head. Grandma's face hardens. She has selected them to expose a lie of her choosing. Do they know what she wants to know? The person probably suspected beforehand and perhaps prepared a speech. But perhaps they didn't.

While everyone else enjoys their dessert or cheese, the condemned must stand and explain why they lied about it and tell the whole story. Usually, Grandma will select something innocuous such as a stolen cookie as a child, but it should be an instance where a lie was taken very far before it was finally called out; now the condemned explains in good humor what went through their mind during the lie, and of course promises never to do it again and everyone laughs.

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PARLOR GAME
For adults and children, or just for adults, depending on the party

Before the game begins, everyone writes down an incredible lie on a piece of paper and puts it in the host's custom mystery box. It could be something simple and personal like "Doug is a woman", scientifically weird like "The moon we see is actually the nearest flat end of an infinitely long cylinder" or outrageously false like "All chimpanzees are actually three puppies stacked in a monkey suit"

Everyone except the game host picks a slip out of the box (which gives the host time to take drink orders) and the game then proceeds in one of two ways:

VERSION 1. INTERROGATION: Seated with drinks and snacks, the first person in chosen order must take turns having an extended conversation with intense questions and answers about the lie they drew from the box. The idea is creativity. If someone says, "But Doug never goes to the women's room" the hoaxer could reply, "Of course not, he wants to keep it a secret!" and if someone then says, "But I've seen his junk in the locker room!" he hoaxer could reply, "It's a prosthetic." etc. If someone feels these answers aren't witty, and people are not convinced, or not amused, they can vote to move on after each round of questions (everyone has presented one question). The game ends when everyone has been convinced that all the lies are actually true.

VERSION 2. PARTY MYSTERY: The party is free-roaming but the second half of it, everyone takes their slip. Nobody knows who has drawn what lie and there is no formal question session, but each person must try, through witty conversation, to engage in normal chatter and work in the subject of their lie and act as if they truly believe it. If someone guesses their lie, they are out and they must show their slip of paper and give it as a prize. The lucky sleuth who identified the lie to that hoaxer's satisfaction wins a special door prize for each lie they uncover. And the same goes for everyone else at the party. There is one special twist and that is if a partier draws their own lie they wrote down, they must adamantly take the opposite view of their hoax concept paper. A correct sleuth guess doesn't have to guess whether the hoaxer is for or against their view, they must only identify the subject in question. The winner collects the most lie papers by identifying the most lies, and they receive a special prize. However, there is no special prize for someone who holds out the longest.

The fun of either version of the game is discovering what people need to believe in something, and learning to laugh at their own gullibility. For instance, did Jane stop asking questions once she "learned" that the (non-existent) article was received well in the Wall Street Journal? Did Matthew approve of the lie because it was said to be "popular" on Reddit? In this game, everyone learns the limits of our investigative skills in a fun and hilarious game of psychology. The best part is the conclusion of every game is a thoughtful realization that nobody really knows anything -- the first step to scientific curiosity!

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Do you have more "expose the hoax" games for ETH-Day? Post your thoughts, suggestions and party ideas here. And this September 11th, let's all try to host one somewhere!
MrSinclair
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Posts: 402
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:29 am

Re: Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

Unread post by MrSinclair »

Well I'll probably smoke a doob and watch my favorite cartoons, like this one... :lol:


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-_ghHANKzo
hoi.polloi
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Posts: 5060
Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:24 pm

Re: Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

Wow, that's a pretty weird retroactive reference! Enjoy the jane!
MsQ
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Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:40 am

Re: Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

Unread post by MsQ »

If there's a party, I think appropriately coloured costumes and cake are required... B)

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hoi.polloi
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Posts: 5060
Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:24 pm

Re: Expose The Hoax Day - a holiday this September 11th!

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

Brilliant idea.

It also looks vaguely like Israel's flag, which would definitely be a hint in the right direction as far as exposing bogus paradigms.
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