back to article Bogus BBC Fukushima radiation texts panic the Philippines

Hoax BBC text messages are claiming that radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has begun spreading in the Philippines. Authorities in Manila were obliged to issue an official denial over the SMS messages, which are entirely bogus. The put-up messages (extract below) advise recipients to stay indoors, and to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Low life scum...

    I think you spelt that wrong...

    It is actually spelt "Complete and utter compasionless c#nts who should be dropped on the reactors to be used as shielding"...

    1. LateNightLarry
      Grenade

      Low life scum...

      <It is actually spelt "Complete and utter compasionless c#nts who should be dropped on the reactors to be used as shielding"...>

      Actually, they should be INSERTED INTO the reactor housing ...

      .

  2. Tigra 07
    Thumb Up

    "The rumour was plausible enough for some companies and schools to start sending people home"

    LMFAO!

    1. Graham Marsden
      FAIL

      What a larf...

      ... getting people to panic like that, total lulz!!!

  3. XMAN
    Grenade

    Messages

    The messages were sent in English and Tagalog. No other dialects were used, so it's odd to refer to them as being sent in 'Filipino' since there's no such language as 'Filipino'.

    The Philippines is a country founded on text messages. The revolution was made possible with the use of text messages.

    Every day millions of prank and religious messages are forwarded on so it doesn't surprise me one bit that people acted on the hoax messages.

    1. bibs

      Filipino IS a language

      It's the "official" version of Tagalog with a few words from other dialects thrown in.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_language

      Assume by revolution you mean the overthrow of Estrada, but they did also manage to overthrow Marcos in 1986 without SMS!

      1. XMAN
        Thumb Up

        Interesting

        You're right, I didn't know that.

        The end of the Wikipedia article echos my own sentiments. Referring to it as 'Filipino' could be kinda confusing since there are a few different dialects which are widely used in the Philippines. But it would appear that 'Filipino' is indeed, technically, a synonym for Tagalog.

  4. tommy060289

    perhaps the hoax was launched by...

    betadine manufacturers

    1. David Pollard

      ... and followers of 'expert' Chris Busby?

      BBC News 24 itself is not without blame in spreading panic. So-called 'Professor' Chris Busby appeared at around 6 pm on Monday, 14th. March.

      He claimed that if plutonium should escape from one of the Japanese reactors which uses MOX fuel then this would not be detectable. Although, as he said, is is not easy to detect short-range alpha particles because they are stopped by even a few centimetres of air, it is utterly implausible that a significant release of plutonium would go unnoticed.

      A quick internet search for [detection plutonium air-filter] brings up a good few references to standard methods. It would also be possible to infer the presence of Pu from the easily recognisable signature of its decay products. And finally, any release of Pu from a reactor would be accompanied by various other radioactive elements which would be swiftly detected.

      His second claim, equally bogus, was that if there were to be a meltdown such that the containment were to be breached then this might result in a nuclear explosion.

      Meanwhile, the list of sites on the internet quoting this 'top radiation expert' is growing. My search for [Chris-Busby radiation] for the past 24 hours at 12:30 GMT on Google currently shows about 70 hits.

      Some of the people spreading scare stories are likely to be the same ones who last year promoted the claim that the increase in illness and birth deformity in Fallujah was caused by depleted uranium from weapons. The end result there has presumably been that the rather severe problem of chemical pollution remains largely unaddressed.

    2. XMAN
      Thumb Up

      To be fair

      Betadine is a pretty good product! Perfect for that sore throat or mouth ulcers. Apparently for radiation poisoning too ;)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Messages....

    Err XMAN, what revolution are you referring to? In 1986 when the People Power Revolution deposed the Marcos Regime, SMS was not in use - in fact I don't believe there was anything near to a mobile phone network in the country. SMS was not widely available until the early mid 90's.

    1. XMAN
      WTF?

      Estrada

      2001 People Power Revolution

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Xman

        Fair enough - hard to keep track of the Revolutions - showing my age!!!!

  6. Jimbo 6
    Alert

    I don't like to make jokes about a serious subject

    ...but I just can't help thinking of the C. Montgomery Burns classic line,

    "Oh, 'meltdown' is one of those annoying buzzwords... I prefer to call it an 'unrequested fission surplus' "

  7. Luther Blissett

    Low life scum

    But many Luther Blissetts make light work

  8. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Funny - the winds coming from the west and later from the south over the ...

    site means that the Phils are in the clear. Pity Korea, though.

    Ah, the miracles of instant communication!

  9. MinionZero
    Stop

    @Low-life scum

    It sadly sounds like the work of a deeply sick troll who's exploited peoples fears (to as usual hit out and bully people (in this case via their fears) and thereby they become the centre of attention for a while). But in the process of bullying people the troll's false story looks like its has taken on a life of its own so to speak and ended up spreading like a wild fire amongst vulnerable (and even fearful) people all worrying about news of possible radiation leaks.

    The greatest thing about the Internet is it brings us all closer together, but unfortunately it also exposes us more to some of the sickest bastards in this world as well (as news like this sadly keeps showing). The way to deal with these sick bastard reallly is to understand them (knowledge really is power as they say and that’s these sick bastards greatest weakness, when people see through them, for what they really are and so are no longer manipulated by the sick bastards).

    A troll is basically an attention seeking bully, so combining bullying with a need to be the centre of attention (at the very least). Its two core personality disorders combined, NPD (Narcissistic personality disorder) + HPD (Histrionic personality disorder) and that’s at the very least (some like them can sometimes be even worse; even as far gone as being full blown Psychopaths, but then that’s not so surprising, considering their often incredible lack of empathy towards the suffering of others as this news shows).

    The one thing NPD's really hate is to be exposed for what they are, so that's exactly what I'll now do to them, so more people can see through what they really are.

    A Narcissistic pattern of behaviour is the result of a child experiencing excessive even abusive levels of parental/guardian control over them, often for very long periods of time (even for as long as their entire childhood). A bully fears ever being in a weak position every again, where they risk others having any kind of power over them ever again, the way they suffered excessive control over them in childhood (its also why they fear being exposed for what they are, as they fear being exposed for being fearful, as that to them shows weakness, but they try to hide it deep down. They really don't want to show their fear (and the most aggressive will simply respond with violent actions to bully people into submission and silence for even suggesting it). The most extreme with this kind of behaviour will go to any lengths to ever avoid anyone ever having power over them ever again. Some would even kill. (In this part of their overall behaviour, Raoul Moat was a good example as is Libyan leader Gaddafi ... obviously they also combine it with a need for attention).

    Which brings us to a Histrionic personality disorder which is an endless deep longing for attention, which in the most extreme cases (as is often found in trolls), its caused by outright parental neglect, so the child grows up always desperately seeking to become the centre of attention again to make up for the attention they lost in childhood. (Lady gaga is a very good example of this kind of behaviour, as are many of the most extreme attention seeking so called celebrities).

    A troll combines these patterns of behaviour. So its parental bullying & abuse combined with parental neglect. They are deeply troubled people. A good warning sign is they often use drink & drugs to try to stop thinking about all their troubling thoughts and memories. Its easy to feel sorry for them in some ways, but don't ever trust them, because they can and will manipulate and lie to you without end. My feeling sorry for them ends the moment they show they cause harm to others. Once they cross the line from being the abused to become yet another abuser, they then cannot be allowed to continue their pattern of behaviour.

    The human race has to break this cycle of abusive behaviour and knowledge of how they behave is the key to stopping the cycle of harm they cause throughout history. (Even wars are fought by these attention seeking control freaks because they are desperate that no one will ever have power over them ever again and they will lie and manipulate everyone they can to gain ever more power and attention).

    The Internet is bring us all closer together than ever before. That’s wonderful for so much and for most situations, but its also bring us much closer to some of the most twisted bastards in this world and the only way to deal with this is to understand them and so not be manipulated by them.

    For example, last night I was watching the English version of the Japanese news channel NHK and there was one troll on the site behaving just as sick as this twisted bastard in this news story. (The NHK English news channel has got a real time blog roll on the side of the screen). Anyway the troll was gleefully saying how disappointed he was that many more people were not dead etc.. combining that insulting and deeply hurtful behaviour with as many racist insults he could think up as well. (By the way racists are often this pattern of HPD+NPD behaviour, as they bully someone standing out as different, so they once again bully on the basis of attention).

    Its also very telling how the troll especially targeted a Japanese website with his comments, to maximise the hurt he caused people. It got him what he wanted, suddenly everyone was talking to him. Sure he was being insulted but that’s what they want. They want to take a beating and show it doesn't bother them. That way they show everyone (in their twisted mind) that they are powerful and can take the insults without an emotional effect on them, plus their behaviour wins them the centre of attention so its a double win for the HPD+NPD. (I'm not on twitter and anyway its hard to deeply undermine a troll in 140 characters so I didn't say anything, but sadly it was just as sick behaviour as the bastard behind this false Bogus BBC story).

    The most aggressive HPD+NPDs are often sick twisted bastards, but don't give them attention, they are deep down fearful attention seekers trying to laugh off any insult directed at them to show that it doesn't make them feel vulnerable. They do it time and time again to show they are powerful simply to avoid their fear of others having power and influence over them. Yet look at the suffering & trouble and even full scale wars these bastards have caused the human race and its happened throughout history!. The human race has enough problems as the horrific news from Japan keeps shows only too well, so we don't also need these HPD+NPD bastards causing yet more harm to so many people. Its time we all made a stand against the HPD+NPD bastards and said no more, now we have the Internet and these bastards are going to be exposed for what they are. Its the only way we can all start to reduce their two faced abuse of everyone.

  10. dssf

    Cut in Filipino?

    Well, according to:

    https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Filipino_language

    "Filipino vs. Tagalog

    In practical terms, Filipino is the formal name of Tagalog, or even a synonym of it. It is sometimes described as "Tagalog-based", part of a political fiction that the national language is based on an amalgam of Philippine languages rather than on Tagalog alone.[4] It is usually called Tagalog within the Philippines and/or among Filipinos to differentiate it from other Philippine languages, but has come to be known as Filipino to differentiate it from other countries' languages; the former implies a regional origin, the latter a national. This is similar to the Spanish vs. Castilian concept (see Names given to the Spanish language)

    One famous event which illustrated the relationship between Filipino and Tagalog occurred during the impeachment trial of the former President Joseph Estrada. When the presiding justice Hilario Davide, a Cebuano, asked which language the witness Emma Lim preferred to testify in, Lim promptly answered "Tagalog", to which Davide did not agree. According to Davide, nobody could testify in Tagalog because it is not the official language of the Philippines and there is no available interpreter from Tagalog to Filipino. However, Senator Franklin Drilon, an Ilonggo, defended the oneness of the two by saying that an interpreter will not be needed because everybody would understand the testimony in Tagalog."

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