High-Profile Fakes

It's been a long time since I wrote in this blog, both because I've been very busy and because I've been overwhelmed with the number of possible topics about which to write. I'm clearly just following a large-scale trend with my interest in frauds, and I cannot begin to keep up with all of the stories about them these days. However, this morning's story about the fake sign-language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial adds yet another layer to my thoughts/questions about the motivations (and brazenness) some people have for putting themselves in a spotlight regardless of consequences. I am also increasingly interested in the lack of oversight that makes these kinds of impostures possible. I see two possible reasons to pretend you speak South African sign language in order to be chosen to "interpret" at a worldwide event: you cannot pass up the chance for worldwide visibility/fame, regardless of consequences, or you'd like to somehow critique or ridicule the event itself in an extreme, public way. Neither makes much sense to me, perhaps because I fear authority, crowds, and public appearance, but ultimately the whole situation is little more than an offense to a small group of people who are already underrepresented in media and government, both an offense in the sense that someone got on a stage and prevented the deaf audience from knowing what was being said, and offensive that the organizers of the memorial allowed him to get on the stage in the first place. How do we decide what is important enough to double-check and what is either so unimportant or so uncommonly fraudulent that it can be assumed or trusted without question? Do we still all assume that most people tell the truth, or do we just not care in some cases whether they do or not?