Artist starves dog to death in the name of Art. Not.

And other Internet knee-jerk stories.

A post appeared on the A1 forum a while back, telling the story of an artist who had tied up a street hound in a gallery and was allowing it to starve to death – in the name of art.

Outraged animal lovers and right-minded people everywhere rushed to sign the petition. More than a few expressed the desire to do violence to the artist himself.

Several pages into the thread (the longest I can remember on that forum) one or two people began to question the story. Eventually, it became clear it was a hoax – just one of many designed to create chain-reactions in the online community.

It is claimed that the artist created the hoax to show how uncritical we have become in the online world. And we have. Not a single teenager I’ve ever spoken to about Facebook has expressed a concern – or even an interest – in the political, commercial, ethical or social forces at work behind the software they willingly give their data to.

When we lose our critical faculties, we are at the mercy of anyone aiming to get us to react.  Which is why the internet generally – and sites like Facebook in particular  -  is the perfect environment for advertising.