Rap Your head around this!

I write about frauds, scammers and catfish but why is it that people fall for the woo these people sell and what can we do to stem the flow of sheer nonsense and pseudoscience? We can counter it using the very same tools that the charlatans employ to get their snake oil out to the masses - via social media. As I was tweeting about a previous post using the hashtag #pseudoscience, I came across a very special and enlightened person who is fighting fire with a big fat fire hose aimed where it will do the most good; our young people.

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Lund, a science teacher at St Johns public high school in St Johns, Michigan who is using charlatans as a teaching tool, and using it in a way that engages his students like nothing I've seen before. I don't usually wish I were a writer for the New York Times or Washington Post, but today, I do wish that, because people need to know about this man and his colleagues. Lots of people. Mr. Lund agreed to answer some questions for me so that I can bring you his story and I encourage you to share it with as many people as you can!

I introduce Scientific Method Man of the Tungsten Clan!

Rich Lund has a love of all things science and as his moniker implies, things provable and repeatable with the scientific method, which he teaches to his students in grades 9 through 12. Mr. Lund (I'll call him that in case his students are taking a peek here) pursued a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Michigan State University (go Spartans!) but wanted to embrace all of the disciplines of science that he had come to respect, so he went on to obtain a teachers certificate and is now working towards a masters in education. That said, this man is a master of education. Let's take a gander at why.

Lund starts out his science classes by, of course, teaching what the scientific method is but he goes one further by also teaching what pseudoscience is. This is the crux of the difference between the two, in my mind. Pseudoscience and hucksters never encourage you to question their claims and tend to completely discount opposing views without ever producing a valid shred of evidence. The scientific method, on the other hand, encourages you to explore all alternatives and either prove or disprove them before forming your theories or reaching conclusions. What Lund is doing, quite brilliantly, is instilling kids with the concept of critical thinking. A concept that will have implications well beyond the science classroom. Now it's all well and good to stand in front of a classroom of young adults, who would no doubt rather be texting their pals, and explain these concepts but Lund goes way beyond the chalkboard and textbooks to bring these concepts to life in a way that kids can relate.

Check out this video, conceived, written and produced by Mr. Lund, all on a shoestring budget he calls "the teacher budget" called "Pseudoscience (you can't get my money)". Go ahead, I'll wait.

It's brilliant, right? In it he hits the key points for kids (and many adults) about how to spot scams and cast a critical eye upon them. He also spent time in making these videos of a quality that kids have come to expect, and it pays off. His kids love the videos, they learn something and they share them. What also strikes me here as important that Lund quite modestly did not point out to me, is that by using this method, he becomes a real person to the students he teaches and not just a stuffy science guy with a lab coat and a pointer. By dispelling the notion that scientists are bespectacled nerds with no social skills closeted in some lab, he opens up the world of science to a new generation of possible scientists.

I asked Lund how he came up with the idea and why he chose rap. He told me that the rap/hip hop genre lends itself very well to conveying a lot of information via lyrics, since lyrics, word play and double entendres are endemic of the style. He also plants quite a few little Easter Eggs (my term, not his) that students "get" once they learn the science info behind the videos. For instance he uses the phrase "You can't touch me, I'm like Kelvin zero degrees - that's how I live."  which the kids will get if they understand the concept of absolute zero. (I have to say, this one really tickled my funny bone!). So not only does rap/hip hop lend itself to this type of educational content, it does it in a way that's fun, lively, engaging and something that likely fits right into the genre of what his students are already enjoying. I picture pulling up to a stoplight next to a car full of kids, hearing the bass rumble and then hearing all these kids rapping along explaining what a mole is! (check out this video to see what I mean)

Lund has done quite a few videos but the reason I chose these two is that the pseudoscience video (which is how I was introduced to Lund) is near and dear to my heart. The mole video on the other hand, shows the breadth of techniques that Lund employs to continue to surprise and reach kids. In "The Mole", Lund gets his fellow teachers, as well as students and the Assistant Principal involved in the video. If you remember back to those days in high school, the last person you expected to see having fun and being cool was your principal and according to Lund, the reaction was cheers, hoots and applause! Always keep them on their toes! I give Lund kudos for getting the other teachers involved as well as involving the students. 

Lund has taken quite a bit of time and energy to create these incredible teaching tools. He writes the lyrics, gets his colleagues involved, at times even teaching some of hip hop's colloquialisms to his fellow teachers. Imagine a bunch of science teachers hanging green plastic table cloths all over a classroom, practicing these routines and knocking them out. Lund then painstakingly edits these videos (having done a fair amount of video production myself, I can tell you this is no small amount of work) adds the music he's created, all the appropriate background imagery and voila; brilliance on youtube! By investing so much of himself and producing these on his "teacher budget" he also displays to his students that if you want something, if you believe in it enough, you can achieve anything.

He's got quite a few videos on scientific topics, so if you are looking to brush up yourself or share with your own kids, please do subscribe to his Youtube channel: Mr Lund Science and give him a follow on twitter too: Scientific Method Man and Mr Lund

There is so much more I could say about what Lund is doing, but I want to also add that he has had the support of the school officials and school board, which I would guess was not the case at the outset. Lund has proven that scientists can be, altruistic, creative and extremely talented in ways that one doesn't expect from the stereotpyical chemistry professor. I am a huge fan and am wishing him luck on a project in the works that involves a partnership with Backyard Brains which is trying to help the very important, yet under-represented area of neurology break its way into the classroom setting. 

Do me a favor, share this with as many people as you can. These folks are training the future of America. By his own account, Lund is a true patriot and told me this; "I would say that feeling the need for critical thinking in the populace in general just comes from loving this country.  A patriotic society will show you its patriotism hand in hand with its skepticism."  

Today's truth meter reading is the far other end of the blazing pants spectrum. We award Tungsten Clan and Scientific Man with the ultimate award of Elemental Truth! Keep up the good work guys and thank you for restoring my faith in truth.

That's all for today folks!

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Pirate of the Caribbean

I've posted before about the self proclaimed "Food Babe" aka Vani Hari, aka Vain Hair. Whelp, truth is always stranger than fiction, or so the old saw goes, and this food barbie makes a good case for the truth of that.

Whilst her vast "army" was out marching against Monsanto and GMOs, Vani was happily posting pics of her West Indies vacation on Instagram, never once considering that she should be leading this fight against the enemy that she claims is the root of all ills (literally). It seems like basking in the sun (sans effective sunscreen of course) was a much better use of her time and the money she earned from her "army" purchasing the overpriced products she promotes on her pages. A pirate is a thief and this one loves the Caribbean.

From Vani's Instagram

Many of her followers excused her obvious absenteeism, claiming that she works so very hard that she deserves to be on vacation spending her shillbucks on expensive private bungalos and sailboats in the Caribbean. But, many of those of us who aren't necessarily enthralled by the brand of woo she peddles wondered if she had kept to her strict dietary regimes, while enjoying the fruits of her pseudoscience.

Turns out she's a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that. She'll happily grill the staff about their food products and preparation even going so far as demanding to tour the kitchens and have special meals prepared based on her daily whims. However, according to Vani herself, she can't seem to resist "croissants and the most delicious breads". Now hold on there a moment! I thought that gluten, GMOs and non-organic foods were poison? At least that's what Vani tells her followers every chance she gets. So, tell me why would a poisonous concoction of these foul ingredients be even remotely tempting? Seriously, I hear that antifreeze tastes sweet but I am never, ever, tempted to swig the stuff just to please a temporary sugar craving.

From Vani's Instagram - Echire butter is the most expensive in the world.

So why does Vani claim that it's human to crave desserts and breads? She has also stated that when you go through her juice cleanses and start eating strictly from her $17.99 per month food guides, that your body will crave only good foods. Are you seeing the hypocrisy here? Oh wait, if you look at Vani's real goals, there is no hypocrisy. Vani is in this game to build herself an empire of fame and fortune. The more her army harasses companies like Monsanto, Kraft and Subway, the more she can claim personal victory for any changes those companies do in fact make. Of course, even when they make changes, Vani still won't relent, it only fuels her hunger (pardon the pun) for more fame based on fear 

Take for instance Kraft foods. In particular Kraft Mac & Cheese. She claims a personal victory for Kraft announcing that they would change their formulation for their popular Mac & Cheese to remove the artificial color - that orange color that kids around the world have come to equate with their after school Mac & Cheese treat. But was that enough to appease Vani and her army? Nope. She's like a food terrorist, once she sees that she has a little power, she is unwilling to let it go. In fact, she is demanding that people who purchase from her line of over-priced guides and partner products, NOT purchase Mac & Cheese from Kraft. Honest. This is a screen shot of the Vani's checkout page on her website:

Theoretically these statements are legally binding agreements. Now, I'm not an attorney but that statement sure doesn't seem legal to me. Seems to me that it violates competition/anti-trust laws that prohibit agreements that prevent fair trade between competing businesses. And this, after Kraft bowed to her ridiculous demands?

But back to Vani's perceived hypocrisy. Vani eats whatever the hell Vani wants. Her goal is to make the rest of us follow her rigid guidelines because it brings her more fame and wealth. That's the bottom line. So if Vani gets caught with butter running down her chin and croissant crumbs on her billabong top, she twists it into a way to make more bucks from her army.  She sent an email to her army (full disclosure: she has banned me from her facebook army, her page and even receiving her email newsletters) telling them of her "slip" and proclaiming that as a result, she was doing a webinar; but only for those who would order her juicing guide within 24 hours, to get back on track. Of course, they weren't the ones eating croissants in St Barths, but they should have to pay the price anyway, apparently.  It was when I went to see how much her juicing guide cost, that I found her not-so-legal insistence that you could have her or you could have Kraft but not both. Never both.

From Vani's Instagram; she captioned it: "My ride for the next 2 weeks"

So for Vani's indiscretion, it will only cost you an extra $24.99 and with it you'll get even more pitches to purchase partner products, but hey, your money will help get Vani back on track. Won't you be so proud? I'm guessing that some fan - or not fan - must have snapped a pic of her stuffing her face with foods on the Vani unapproved list, so she took the opportunity to turn a fault into some more big fat dollars for Mr & Mrs Food Babe. After all, 2 week vacations to the Caribbean aren't free you know! But according to Vani. she's personally cheering you on...between dives, sails and croissants. For real, she cares and I guess all  that expensive French butter she's using makes her hair shiny in the Caribbean sun. Don't you wish you could afford some?

So for these reasons, I once again award Vani Hari with our highest honors. The 5 brigade, Too hot to get near, Pants-on-Fire award. (she doesn't buy her own garbage any more than I do)

That's All Folks!

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NutraQuack Nancy

Quacks come in all shapes and sizes. Just like there are good and not so good doctors there are naturopaths and holistic healers and worse ones. Enter Nancy S Mure, who couldn't quite decide what she wanted to be when she grew up until she alit on being a self proclaimed natural healing practitioner. We'll get into why I say self proclaimed in a minute. But first let's talk about what the whole naturopathic thing-a-ma-bob is all about.

As far as I can tell, naturopathic healing is believing that your body has the capacity to heal itself without the aid of modern medical intervention. Oh and unicorns and rainbows. Now I am not against a healthy lifestyle and I believe it can prevent many illnesses but I highly doubt that it can cure diseases - chronic diseases like cancer and MS, as our little NutraQuack believes. Also there are real naturopathic healers (I use the term loosely myself) that are trained in accredited universities and attain certification and/or licensure (in the USA) through  the American Naturopathic Association (ANA), representing about 1,800 practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA). (according to wikepedia.)

"The level of naturopathic training varies among traditional naturopaths in the United States. Traditional naturopaths may complete non-degree certificate programs or undergraduate degree programs and generally refer to themselves as Naturopathic Consultants. These programs often offer online unaccredited degrees, but do not offer proper biomedical education or clinical training. Those completing a Doctor of Naturopathy (ND) degree from an ANMCB approved school can become a Board Certified Naturopathic Doctor. This board certification is in no way the same as holding an ND license and holds no weight in states that regulate the practice of naturopathic medicine."

In doing some background checking, I looked into NutraQuack's educational claims. She has no certification from any accredited body. Anywhere. She attended an unaccredited online diploma mill in which you basically pay for a little piece of paper that claims you have a PhD. She doesn't. It's not real, nor are any of her certifications. You can check for yourself by checking US accredited higher learning institutions with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. I won't even give you a link, lest one of NutraQuack's believers claim I am misdirecting. Google it for yourself. Her partner in crime, "Dr" Patrick Wanis obtained his doctorate from an even shadier Indian diploma mill online in which you can get a bachelors/masters in 2-3 days online and a PhD in less than a month. It'll only cost you 10 grand US or so.

The thing that first alerted my bullshit meter was a post from the NutraQuack herself, in which she talks about how people should emulate dogs in their own behaviors. Seriously, this is her philosophy. She seems to think her pet dog knows more about healthy habits than does she (even after all that simulated education). Dogs apparently never overeat nor drink water while they are eating. Funny though that Nancy admits in many online publications to drinking wine in Italy every summer so maybe dogs should drink wine. Not sure on that one, I'd ask her but she banned me from her facebook for asking intelligent questions. She IS into "natural hygiene". Not sure what it is, but if she is emulating her dog, I'm going to guess she licks her own ass after, well, a 'cleanse'.

Now, I first wondered whether these people had been duped into thinking that they were getting an accredited degree but seriously, if you think that you get a real PhD by submitting a 1500 word essay online, you aren't even bright enough for the Associates degree that NutraQuack actually did earn before she went to work in a bank. Nope, NutraQuack Nancy knows exactly what she's doing. She wants fame and fortune. She tried to go a more legitimate route, writing children's books, which by many accounts are quite good. But I guess that wasn't enough to keep her in fame and fortune. She also wrote for a magazine about food. Really, but it wasn't the same food she peddles now - take a look for yourself:

Now I have nothing against cookies, but then I also don't run around telling people I can cure chronic and debilitating diseases with a daily juice cleanse either. But wait. What goes better with cookies than milk right? But Nancy doesn't want you to drink milk - it's the devil!

In this article she tells us that not only is milk toxic and not a good source of calcium or vitamin D she states unequivocally that we should not consume it; 

"Don't buy into the Dairy Industry's hype. Humans shouldn't drink milk from a Cow. Nature supplies the milk of each species to fit the needs of its young. Cow milk is meant to grow cows. It contains a protein that is meant for cows.  It is not meant for humans, that's why babies have trouble digesting it and in children and adults,  it's making us fat."

OK, lots of people don't drink milk and don't believe in it but Nancy does, when it suits her purpose. Check out this video that she proudly posted from her account called Nutritionist Nancy at about the time she's claiming to have had all that "natural" education from that "university".

Um, hey Nancy, I think mozzarella is made from milk. So I guess milk is OK if it's in line with your career goals. NutraQuack cites her time on this show with Tyler Florence (who is NOT a vegetarian) as one of the highlights of her 'career'. So I guess if the TV studios had liked her she'd be pushing pizza and milkshakes instead of colonics to cure cancer.

Yes, these are the sorts of people that recommend a 3 day cleanse for a toddler, claim to cure cancer using coffee enemas and pig pancreas all based on a crazy theory developed by a dentist. Yes, I said dentist. But this dentist wasn't happy with handing out braces (though he did even manage to lose his dental license) Old DDS Kelley thought he was an oncologist too. You seriously can't make this shit up! But, this is the danger people like Nancy represent. She wrote an article about how Angelina Jolie should have ignored her BRCA markers and gone to Nancy to eliminate her risk of cancer. This is where the rubber meets the road for me. You can sell organic BS products and supplements all you want (though supplements can be quite harmful as well), but when you start peddling medical advice based on some cockamamie disproven theories as opposed to proven scientific study, that's when it stops being amusing or faddish or remotely funny. 

So, because of the blatant hypocrisy we can tell she's not buying her own line of bullshit so she's a charlatan making bucks off the so called natural (read completely uncontrolled by any oversight agency) supplements, products, diets and "cures" that she peddles regularly through fear-mongering.

This earns NutraQuack Nancy our highest rating of Five alarm, get the bucket brigade, damn it's hot in here, PANTS-ON-FIRE award.

So, my last words will be more harsh than usual but they need saying. Nancy, just cut it the fuck out before you hurt more people. Your career is not worth the lives you are risking with bad advice. Stick to writing kids books about meatballs and pizza. Something you are infinitely more qualified to do.

That's all folks!

PS - I never sell products on this site, nor do I accept donations of any kind. Advertisements posted are always for your entertainment and completely tongue in cheek. Clicking on them brings no money to anybody but may bring you a smile. Trust me, I just bought an online doctorate.

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Eat Me Babe, I'm GMO free.

I eat food. You probably do, too. I want to be healthy. You probably do, too. That makes us a target audience for some of the worst kind of fear-mongering, pseudoscience, mumbo jumbo snake oil salesmen around. I touched on good ole Dr Oz in my first post but if you haven't met Vani Hari - AKA (self proclaimed) Food Babe you are in for a comic treat. This chick is her very own Oz - as in wizard of Oz and she recruits munchkins to help spread her disinformation. She calls them the food babe army but they are as blind to her tricks as the munchkins were to the wizard.

Vani is the author of a blog called Food Babe and of a recently published book that is full of outlandish fear mongering about the safety of the food on your plate, yet promises to heal you in a mere three weeks. She happily publishes shopping lists of "babe approved food" along with recipes, all the while telling you the perils of not doing things her way. OK, so nothing wrong with eating healthy but scaring people out of eating perfectly safe FDA approved foods and into non-FDA regulated products IS wrong.

Let's start with the biggest issue for me; her credibility or lack thereof. I am flummoxed that anyone can put any stock whatsoever in what comes out of this chick's mouth. She has the gall to weigh in on every scientific aspect of food production (not to mention vaccines),  though she has zero scientific background.  You see, Vani used to be a coder - as in software nerd - with bad skin, a runny nose and more than a few extra pounds. Not uncommon for the stereotypical coder who sits for hours at a time, chugging mountain dew and eating M&Ms as if they were their own food group. I know coders. I've worked with a lot of them. But then Vani started eating right and exercising, lost the weight and cleared up her skin.  She claims all this is due to ridding herself of artificial flavorings and colorings, however. In one interview about her book she claims to have completely overcome all of her health issues, including allergies.

Fabulous. I applaud that but I guess the fat to thin diet book market was oversaturated so she embarked on a quest to blame her former physique on everything from pesticides to GMO and (cue the music) the dark conspiracy behind it all; Monsanto. I think she watched Food Inc one too many times and decided that the Monsanto corp was equivalent to Hitler's 3rd Reich. I mean, she did tweet that vaccines had been used as genocide. I kid you not. Her claims are absurd but since it's fear based, it can be effective to all those tin-foil hatters who are simply into confirmation bias.

But let's go back to the allergies and bad skin. If, indeed purging her kitchen of all evil chemicals (which includes any chemicals at all according to our food barbie - er babe), then why is she touting bizarre skin rituals and hawking skin care products on her site? In addition, why is she posting to facebook that her eyes are swollen due to allergies? Yeah, you smell a rat, too, don't you? Here's a link for you - if you can stomach watching it, the part about your blood circulating through your skin is quite amusing! Food babe skin crap.

You know I like to keep a sense of humor about these things, so let's take a look at some of her more comical assertions. My personal favorite was the post she made about the airline conspiracy to deprive you of oxygen onboard an aircraft to save money! OK, wait. I'm laughing again... She claimed in an article she posted in 2011, that the airlines were mixing as much as 50% nitrogen in with their oxygen and this would make you feel bloated aboard an aircraft. Seriously, I can't make this crap up! Any 5th grader knows that air comprises a mix of nitrogen and oxygen at about an 80% - 20% respectively. She later pulled the post, alternately saying it was an old post and saying, she had made an error.

No, that is not an error. An error is a misspelling or something, it isn't declaring the airline guilty of sabotaging its own passengers based on a ridiculous lack of understanding of the basics of natural sciences. For an absolutely hilarious reply to her airplane article - click here. It is so full of baseless blather that I can't even cover it all here!

Now, if she were simply stupid and touted her thoughts as opinion, that would be one thing. What she does is tout her opinions as fact and if anyone dare challenge or even <gasp> disagree; she labels you as a Monsanto shill and encourages her mob - er, "food babe army" to attack and discredit you all over social media. This is typical Dark Triad behaviour from a previous post.  She also makes claims about microwave ovens and irradiated spices that have no basis in fact whatsoever. She knows they are fake but she pushes them. Why? Because on her site she shills for 'natural' foods and other products, one of which had to be pulled from shelves for salmonella - wow, sounds healthy to me! She also wants to earn big bucks on her new book, written in conjunction with Dr Hyman ( a close pal of good old Dr Oz) - another woo peddler extraordinaire. She claims to use peer reviewed academic papers in her research, but I gotta tell you, if those peers are Dr Mark Hyman and Dr Mehmet Oz, then you'd better get to the bank, because any science they are selling you is designed and communicated to line their pockets. Nothing more, nothing less. (we'll talk more about the good Dr Hyman and his pals pictured here in a future post).

Now I've got nothing against eating right and leading a healthy lifestyle but when you take it to extremes to bash companies and proven science based on a random thought you had in the middle of the night while consuming contaminated coconut oil with a spoon; maybe, just maybe, you've gone off the deep end. That would be a compliment though I don't think our little naturopathic shill HAS gone off the deep end. I think she's in it for the money, and I'd love to check her sock drawer for a hidden cache of gummy bears.

But hey, you don't have to take my word for it - google her or here's an article to get you started from the Atlantic (and incidentally this is the most positive article from a reliable source that I could find.)

For these reasons and many of her public outright lies, we're gonna award her a big fat, way off the scale, 5-alarm, Pants-on-Fire.

So with that, I do believe I will eat a yoga mat and wash it down with a Starbucks Pumpkin Latte!

Click through for the truth on these campaigns.

That's all folks!

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The Pitiful Pit of Prevarication

Today's post will be for all of you who've been dying to know how we keep the fires burning so brightly here at Blazing Pants so I thought I'd bring you a special edition!

First things first, our meter looks all clean and shiny and new. And it is. However, what keeps those flames going (at times too hot for me to even approach the Truth-O-Meter) is the foul underbelly of the world that most of us don't really care to think about. Trouble is, just when you are busily ignoring them you bump into one (or more, they always come with pals) and all hell breaks loose. They are know as the Dark Tetrad, which is sadly, a very real phenomenon. They create a fire pit that burns until they burn out and I call it the pitiful pit of prevarication.

I invited in our old friend from the bunny blog to give us a discussion on this strange creature known as the Internet Troll that is the Dark Tetrad. Welcome Dr Freud!

Oh, ah Hello again Ms Bunny. Vat do you vant dis time? You keep Vaking me up fon my deep slumber in vich I dream of cigars und my Mutti.

Oh sorry about that Siggy but this one is important. It's serious this time.

Oy, so vat is it? Get on vit it.

I want you to explain about Internet trolls and the abnormal personality traits behind it.

OK, Vell, I don't know dis Internet thingy but I can give you some information - listen up.

The Dark Tetrad consists of four disturbing personality traits, that when combined, make for a personality so dark at its core that it can possess no redeeming qualities. It's an addition of a trait to the traditional Dark Triad, which comprises Narcissism, Psychopathy and Machiavellianism but when you add in the fourth component; Sadism, you have the makings for a perfect Internet troll. There was study published recently that focused on Internet behaviors with respect the the Dark Triad - Click here for the abstract.  What struck me in particular was calling out sadism as a separate and distinct feature, though lack of empathy is a hallmark characteristic of the other three traits. However, several studies show that sadism should inhabit its own classification due to the unique characteristics as described thusly:

"All of those with dark personality traits were cruel to an innocent opponent when it was easy to exert pain. But the sadists increased the intensity of their attack when they realized the innocent person would not fight back. And what’s more, they were the only ones willing to spend time and energy for the opportunity to be cruel." (source - Everyday Sadism)

Vy does this interest you Ms Bunny?

It's of interest here at Blazing Pants, because those personality flaws lead the Internet Troll to go to nearly any lengths to achieve their ends.  Let's take for instance an inconvenient commenter, who trolls every blog, article, facebook group, twitter feed that she can to pleasure herself at the expense of others. I wish she'd stick to more conventional methods of self pleasuring.

Oh ya, ya, I haff seen her actions. Ve can talk about zee masturbation later but this kind of pleasuring she does may help explain the great lengths to vich she will go simply to be cruel or hurtful (that's the sadism part) perhaps fueled by an addiction as well.  Let's break it down by trait, shall ve?

Narcissism

Narcissism can be defined as: "extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one's own talents and a craving for admiration". This is blatantly obvious in this particular troll throughout her posts, both on her own blog and via comments to others.  She never concerns herself with the actual topic at hand, rather inserts herself in a superior and haughty manner simply to create a reaction. Narcissists often feel extremely inadequate and posture through actions such as these simply to build their own sense of grandiosity. They are also apt to view themselves as victims and portray themselves to others that way when their actions invariably generate negative consequences. Roger Elliot was a prime example of extreme narcissism.

OK, so kinda like when she's always claiming to be a close personal friend of people she's never met, like a convicted murderess and her mitigation specialist? That kind of thing?

Ya Bunny, these are "convenient UNTRUTHS" she has invented to boost her own notoriety or in this case infamy, since vat real person could take pride in that?  


But what about when she posts pictures of her own garden and dare I call it a pitiful fire pit?

Zis is also narcissistic - she is really posting a pitiful pit of prevarication which she is using to seem like a human vith real feelings to gain your empathy. Also ven she uses her family to invoke pity, she is attempting to shift the attention away from her own misdeeds but she never cares about her family until they can be useful to her. Now be qviet I haff to finish. Next is psychopathy.

Psychopathy

Psychopathy encompasses symptoms such as; lack of empathy, poverty of emotion, untruthfulness and insincerity, boldness and disinhibition and the inability to assume responsibility. In other words, they have no boundaries for their behavior and no conscience as you and I know it.

Wow, so things like posting people's addresses, phone numbers, calling police, having people show up at someone's house to puncture their tires or even impersonating someone to get process servers to show up at a PTA meeting someone is attending? Stuff like that?

Oh yes, and more. But usually, they will attract and enlist other people to do the physical dirty work for them. They attract other Internet trolls with personality defects and use them for their own ends.

They're not friends with the other trolls that they hang around with on people's web pages or twitter timelines?

Oh no, qvite the contrary. The Dark Tetrad is incapable of cultivating the connections required to establish and maintain an actual human relationship. She is like the fish that she slaps with; cold und dead on the inside. You can see that the people she calls friends are usually unstable themselves. She chooses people she sees as veaker so she can always see herself as superior. She needs that to feed the narcissistic facet of her personality.

So this is already a very scary person!

Oh vait, ve are not done yet! Now add in the machiavellian aspect and ve haff a dangerous subhuman creature.

Machiavellian 

The Machiavellian personality employs cunning, cynicism and duplicity to every action or motivation in their lives. They are devoid of goals other than to create and cultivate hate and power over others. They feel that any means justify their own ends. Morality and ethics are for the weak and they of course have risen above the weak so whatever they do is inherently right because they chose to do it. Of course, right and wrong are at their discretion so often you will see them condemn the very behavior they employ regularly.

Oh, yes indeed! The fishslapper and the fleas from the dog pound do that all the time!

I know, Bunny, I haff seen it! The duplicity is evident to most people in the normal spectrum but she deludes herself into thinking that she is always virtuous, or at least that is vat she vants you to think she believes. She tells so many untruths and spins so many webs that at times she can get caught in them herself.

So, combine all these traits with the sadism aspect that we described above and you haff exactly a fishslapping Internet Troll. Before she discovered the Internet, she was a garden variety Dark Triad who desperately vanted to add the sadism but didn't haff the nerve. She stalked her ex boyfriend (again, vee see the lack of ability to maintain a stable interpersonal connection) just to slap him viss her dead fish. 

Zen she even told police zat she vanted to strike a man in a Veelchair viss her car and keep him pinned to the curb until police could come. Ziss is clear evidence zat she feels justified in everything she does and seeks to inflict pain upon others that "irritate" her. Ve get a clear glimpse of the lengths she vill go to just to see her ends achieved. Her lack of conscience and machiavellian sense of entitlement are evident because she actually posted this TO the police. But ven she finally discovers her own sadistic qualities, she comes into her full grandeur as a Dark Tetrad of the Internet.

This has been an amazing amount of information Dr Freud! Thank you so much for joining me!

Now Bunny, I'm goink to tell you zat if you publish ziss information, she vill seek to destroy you vis her current posse of trolls. She vill lie, she vill spend hours upon hours trying to bring you down with rumor, innuendo and anything she can get her hands on.

Oh, I know. Her comments on this very blog and others have made that perfectly clear. Not to worry, I do have a conscience and it is clear!

OK, Bye for now Bunny, I must get back to my cigar dreams.

So there you have it folks - that's why the Dark Tetrad is of interest here at Blazing Pants. She uses the catfishes to do her bidding - very much like slapping someone in the face with a fish, only in this case, the fish are not yet aware that they are already dead to her.

So what you end up with is a fishslapper with fleas and a dog pound that smells like dead fish. Hold your noses and get out the Raid folks!

I will call this one a HUGE, off the scales Pants-on-Fire!

So that's all for today folks! Thanks for reading!

PS - we never accept donations here at Blazing Pants.

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