Sochi, wolves, Kimmel -- what's not to like?

[Sherman Bay]

Jimmy Kimmel does it again! He quite succesfully pulled off a hoax, claiming that wolves (or a wolf) were roaming the Russian Olympic Village, at least according to Olympic Luger Kate Hansen:

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2014/02/must-see-behind-the-scenes-vid.php

What I find most interesting is the reaction of the news media (and that clip shows dozens of mainstream news shows). They were intensely interested in:

• What kind of animal it was
• Were there more wolves?
• Is that a husky or a wolf?
• Was it a dog?
• How scary and dangerous it was
• What kind of country has wolves in the village?
• Etc....

instead of the question that they should have asked (before putting it on the air, and what would have made a better story): "Is this real?"

It's a little like arguing what kind of socks Bigfoot wears, or what He does in the woods, when proof of existence of Bigfoot should be required first.

 

[Checkmite]

I'm sorry; I was under the impression that there was an actual video of a canine walking through a hotel corridor? By "is this real" and drawing a comparison to bigfoot, are you implying the video was fake - a person in a suit or CGI or something like this?

 

[CynicalSkeptic]

Agreed with Checkmite. If I had first watched the video before knowing it was a hoax, my reaction would have been "that's a dog, not a wolf", not "I wonder if this is staged".

 

[Sherman Bay]

Agreed with Checkmite. If I had first watched the video before knowing it was a hoax, my reaction would have been "that's a dog, not a wolf", not "I wonder if this is staged".

And that's my point. YOUR reaction is reasonable. But are you a news anchor? The news anchors' actions are credulous and not the least bit skeptical, at a time when skepticism should be paramount. That's what they are there for.

 

[Sherman Bay]

I'm sorry; I was under the impression that there was an actual video of a canine walking through a hotel corridor? By "is this real" and drawing a comparison to bigfoot, are you implying the video was fake - a person in a suit or CGI or something like this?

Implying? Heck, no! I am saying that it is the responsibility of news media to present facts, not skits! Did you watch the entire link, where, at the end, you can see the fake "hotel hallway" set Kimmel had constructed?

 

[Checkmite]

I'm not disputing that it was staged or whatever; it's just, I'm not seeing why being credulous of this video as it was originally presented is tantamount to taking a Bigfoot video seriously.

Given that: dogs exist and the video is an actual video of an actual dog in a place that certainly looks (and, as we have learned, was intentionally designed to look) like a hotel hallway; that Kate Hansen is indeed a real Olympic luger who in fact competed at Sochi (meaning she was there); and finally that it is already well established that Sochi has an unusually large stray dog population, it seems to me that a claim from an athlete of seeing a stray dog wandering her hotel hallway in Sochi is not that particularly incredible or extraordinary a claim, especially when accompanied by a video. It's certainly not Bigfoot-level nuttery to accept the possibility of that sort of thing happening.

I didn't see the video until this thread; but it seems to have been publicly posted on YouTube as a "this is what I saw" thing, by the athlete. One could certainly choose to believe it, or not, as it was posted; but I'm not sure what kind of fact-checking you feel might have been done that would've exposed the video as a "hoax" before the story had gained any legs as it were.

 

[Ziggurat]

Agreed with Checkmite. If I had first watched the video before knowing it was a hoax, my reaction would have been "that's a dog, not a wolf", not "I wonder if this is staged".

The irony being that it was a wolf. That was the only authentic part about it.

 

[steve s]

...it seems to me that a claim from an athlete of seeing a stray dog wandering her hotel hallway in Sochi is not that particularly incredible or extraordinary a claim, especially when accompanied by a video.

I agree. The fact that this was posted on the account of an actual athlete, rather than some anonymous tourist, makes it much more believable. I think it was in rather poor taste on Hansen's part to participate. There's apparently enough real problems with the facilities there that it's silly to start making stuff up. From now on, when someone points out a problem, no one will believe it. It's a good thing this happened near the end of the Olympics and not at the beginning.

Steve S

 

[tyr_13]

I agree. The fact that this was posted on the account of an actual athlete, rather than some anonymous tourist, makes it much more believable. I think it was in rather poor taste on Hansen's part to participate. There's apparently enough real problems with the facilities there that it's silly to start making stuff up. From now on, when someone points out a problem, no one will believe it. It's a good thing this happened near the end of the Olympics and not at the beginning.

Steve S

If only there were a saying that fit this exact situation.

Gotta love literal 'boy who cried wolf' cases.

 

[Modified]

The irony being that it was a wolf. That was the only authentic part about it.

I think that's where they messed up. The wolf was too clean and well-groomed. It didn't look like a wolf that just wandered in out of the woods. This turned peoples minds to "dog", even though it was also too clean and well-groomed to be a stray dog.

 

[steve s]

If only there were a saying that fit this exact situation.

Gotta love literal 'boy who cried wolf' cases.

I was all set with a comeback, but when I clicked Quote and the Reply box came up, I saw you beat me to it in invisible ink.

Steve S

 

[tyr_13]

I was all set with a comeback, but when I clicked Quote and the Reply box came up, I saw you beat me to it in invisible ink.

Steve S

I'm wily like some other canine idiom. Although not enough so to have remembered the term 'idiom' for my previous post.

 

[Pup]

There are reports of deer walking into stores pretty regularly:

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/3-deer-walk-into-store-using-front-door/17471602

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr4VHamZ27w

http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/h...er-pennsylvania-sporting-goods-store-20131227

and there are moose stories too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2PCjjrvg64


And bears:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/07/24/a-bear-walks-into-a-bar-in-estes-park/

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/bear-cub-grocery-store-caught-tape-14768126

And a coyote:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17950832/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/coyote-shall-lie-down-sobes/

As far as I know those aren't hoaxes, so I can see why a news station wouldn't necessarily be on the lookout for a hoax.

 

[Newtons Bit]

I agree. The fact that this was posted on the account of an actual athlete, rather than some anonymous tourist, makes it much more believable. I think it was in rather poor taste on Hansen's part to participate. There's apparently enough real problems with the facilities there that it's silly to start making stuff up. From now on, when someone points out a problem, no one will believe it. It's a good thing this happened near the end of the Olympics and not at the beginning.

Steve S

So you're saying that there are consequences to... crying wolf?

 

[dudalb]

There are reports of deer walking into stores pretty regularly:

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/3-deer-walk-into-store-using-front-door/17471602

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr4VHamZ27w

http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/h...er-pennsylvania-sporting-goods-store-20131227

and there are moose stories too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2PCjjrvg64

A Coyote created a minor fuss by wandering into a San Francisco's ritzy Camino Del Mar neighborhood a few weeks ago.
It is right across the road from the the semi wilderness area bordering the Pacific and ran by the National Park Service,and surprised this does not happen more often since coyotes are a pretty common sight on the hiking/biking trails there. Happened to me a few times. THe coyotes hurry out of your way.
Normally they don't cross the rather busy road but it happens once in a while.

There also a fair number of coyotes in the Remoter areas of GOlden Gate Park.

 

[Old man]

I'm not disputing that it was staged or whatever; it's just, I'm not seeing why being credulous of this video as it was originally presented is tantamount to taking a Bigfoot video seriously.

Given that: dogs exist and the video is an actual video of an actual dog in a place that certainly looks (and, as we have learned, was intentionally designed to look) like a hotel hallway; that Kate Hansen is indeed a real Olympic luger who in fact competed at Sochi (meaning she was there); and finally that it is already well established that Sochi has an unusually large stray dog population, it seems to me that a claim from an athlete of seeing a stray dog wandering her hotel hallway in Sochi is not that particularly incredible or extraordinary a claim, especially when accompanied by a video. It's certainly not Bigfoot-level nuttery to accept the possibility of that sort of thing happening.

I didn't see the video until this thread; but it seems to have been publicly posted on YouTube as a "this is what I saw" thing, by the athlete. One could certainly choose to believe it, or not, as it was posted; but I'm not sure what kind of fact-checking you feel might have been done that would've exposed the video as a "hoax" before the story had gained any legs as it were.

I'm not a reporter/news agency, and my first reaction to any YouTube video is "Ok, how did they fake this?"

 

[Sherman Bay]

I think it's a classic case of newscasters deciding to not pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Much like magic shows, the audience concentrates on what the presenter wants them to see and ignores what might reveal the mechanism behind it.

When I saw the video, although I don't know enough about wolf/dog differences to be certain what it was, the first thing I thought, based on owning many pets, was "That animal doesn't look lost, scared or particularly attentive in what should be a very foreign and hostile environment to a wild animal. It looks like a domestic pet." No one at the news desks seemed to pick up on that.

 

[The Don]

I think it's a classic case of newscasters deciding to not pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Much like magic shows, the audience concentrates on what the presenter wants them to see and ignores what might reveal the mechanism behind it.

When I saw the video, although I don't know enough about wolf/dog differences to be certain what it was, the first thing I thought, based on owning many pets, was "That animal doesn't look lost, scared or particularly attentive in what should be a very foreign and hostile environment to a wild animal. It looks like a domestic pet." No one at the news desks seemed to pick up on that.

Of course they didn't because a wolf in a Russian hotel reinforces US (and Western) prejudices about Russia. Not that there isn't plenty wrong with Russia but wolves in hotels aren't IIRC a big problem.

 

[Sherman Bay]

Of course they didn't because a wolf in a Russian hotel reinforces US (and Western) prejudices about Russia. Not that there isn't plenty wrong with Russia but wolves in hotels aren't IIRC a big problem.

I think the hoax was designed with that prejudice in mind. A wolf might be more believable in Russia than, say, a lion.

 

[Dissolution]

The media were fooled, but it's fairly reasonable that they fell for it.
It's a video of a wolf in a corridor posted by an Olympic athlete claiming that it's a wolf in a corridor.