Debunking decided to pop on to Facebook to have a quick poke around. It doesn’t really take very long before you’re met with some bullshit or other that confounds you and makes you wonder how people believe things that are spread. It seems the Admin of Friends of Bolehall Stan Wilde, who is also known as ‘Grumpy Stan’ on his local radio show and ‘Grumpy Oldman’ on some profiles is not adverse to spreading lies and misinformation too, even when it is pointed out to him. It surprises us, because we know Stan to be a reasonably switched on person, but it seems even he succumbs occasionally.
So what is the lie? It’s this:
This guy has posted a video on another group that Stan has shared to his own page. He’s trying to make out that the yellow thing is a Speed Camera. It’s not. He’s even gone to the effort of putting a camera lens into the gap to make it look realistic. So what is it? It’s quite simply a stub for a new mobile phone mast equipment cabinet and the yellow thing is a cover to keep the wires going into it covered until they install the box. There’s been lots around Tamworth recently especially from three.
Despite the fact it was ‘fake news’ being pointed out in the only comment on the post, the post is still there. There’s a not inconsiderable 3,100 people who are part of that group, and the admin has just decided to throw bullshit at them, and for quite a few it will stick. These Facebook group admins, especially our favourite local troll who runs the largest, really have a responsibility to ensure they’re not misinforming people, especially when they have that many followers. Misinformation is a cancer in Tamworth as well as the world as a whole. Do your followers a favour Stan and maybe stop posting crap? Better still, tell them it was crap.
