How to Hoax Yourself: The Case of A Gay Girl Damasc | The New Yorker

Contents:

• SYRIA GAY GIRL DAMASC BLOG A HOAX BY US MAN
• THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX
• NEW EVINCE ABOUT AMA, THE “GAY GIRL DAMASC” HOAX
• GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX – THE MEDIA’S GULLIBILY AGA ON DISPLAY
• GAY GIRL DAMASC: TOM MACMASTER FENDS BLOG HOAX
• ‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC’ CLEAN
• THE EXC AND CONSEQUENC OF THE 'GAY GIRL DAMASC' HOAX
• HOAX: FROM THE HLER DIARI TO GAY GIRL DAMASC
• GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX: EDWARD SAID'S DGHTER TALKS ABOUT 'ORIENTALIST' AMA-CREATOR TOM MACMASTER.
• 'A GAY GIRL DAMASC': HOW THE HOAX UNFOLD
• HOW TO HOAX YOURSELF: THE CASE OF A GAY GIRL DAMASC
• 'GAY GIRL IN DAMASC' TURNS OUT TO BE AN AMERIN MAN
• ANDREW ORR ON “THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX”
• THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX
• THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX, 'MASS RAPE' LIBYA, AND PRS CRLY

SYRIA GAY GIRL DAMASC BLOG A HOAX BY US MAN

Image ptn, An onle mpaign was lnched to secure "Ama's" releaseA blog purportedly wrten by a gay woman Syria, which scribed life Damass amid the current polil unrt, has been revealed to be a hoax.

THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX

A Girl Gay Damasc gaed a worldwi rearship and was closely followed by news the te thor has now e forward - Tom MacMaster, an Amerin man studyg Stland.

"One day if I'm kidnapped by my ernment, many rears won't re bee I uld turn out to be another Ama, " wrote one Lebane Gay Girl Damasc blog, datg back to Febary this year, claimed to document the life of 25-year-old Ama Abdallah Arraf al-Omari, a half-Syrian, half Amerin lbian livg Damasc. "Mr MacMaster said he had jt tried to show some of the stggl of people livg amid polil upheaval the Middle East and to "illumate them for a wtern dience" polil and gay activists have reacted furly to the revelatn.

NEW EVINCE ABOUT AMA, THE “GAY GIRL DAMASC” HOAX

"Bee of you, Mr MacMaster, a lot of the real activists the LGBT [lbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgenr] muny beme unr the spotlight of the thori Syria, " wrote Daniel Nassar, an edor of the Gay Middle East blog. The Gay Girl Damasc Hoax explor the vulnerabily of ted and polilly engaged Wterners to Progrsive Orientalism, a form of Orientalism embedd wh otherwise egalarian and anti-imperialist Wtern thought.

Early the Arab Sprg, the Gay Girl Damasc blog appeared.

A new post on the Gay Girl Damasc blog clus a nfsn om Tom MacMaster. We have gathered pellg new evince regardg the “Gay Girl Damasc” blogger hoax.

GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX – THE MEDIA’S GULLIBILY AGA ON DISPLAY

Those rponsible for this hoax have ed a great al of ncern and anguish by postg rmatn allegg that “Ama Abdallah Araf al Omari” the supposed “Gay Girl” blogger had been kidnapped om the streets of Damasc, possibly by Syrian thori, and was likely grave danger. It also acknowledged that LGR had assisted Ama tablishg her “Gay Girl Damasc” blog.

GAY GIRL DAMASC: TOM MACMASTER FENDS BLOG HOAX

Gay Girl Damasc blog. That is what happened wh the “Gay Girl Damasc” hoax.

Gullible news anizatns were so taken wh the blogggs of a purported gay girl livg Damasc, who phed all the right iologil and emotnal buttons, that they failed to rry out their profsnal obligatn to vet an unsubstantiated source. This same plicy unrlay the failure of the media to rail the “A Gay Girl Damasc” story promptly. Too Good to Be Te On June 7, news outlets were abuzz over the alleged abductn of Ama Abdallah Arraf, thor of “A Gay Girl Damasc” blog.

Sce mid-Febary, Ama’s blog had attracted admirg attentn om journalists around the world for purportedly revealg what was happeng Syria through the lens of a progrsive, gay woman. Then, Pla Brooks, who had been stmental exposg MacMaster as the fx gay girl Damasc, was revealed to be a middle-aged male nstctn worker livg Oh named Bill Graber.

‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC’ CLEAN

” He go on to implicly support Paltian vlence agast Israel, allegg that nsistently, the Israeli ary has rpond to non-vlent monstrators wh vlence… Until the Israelis advance to a receptive state on a par wh what the whe South had achieved by the 1950s and 1960s, I thk advisg Paltians to lead non-vlent march is simply an vatn for more might disappot Ama’s most dogged admirers that MacMaster also warned agast allowg members of a renstcted Atlanta Palte Solidary group “to hijack the anizatn for their own femist, gay rights, and anti-Islamic agendas. ” His anti-Israel views are not cintal to the “A Gay Girl Damasc” hoax. She fend his “Gay Girl” d claimg, “It was really an attempt to circumvent tradnal news media and try to talk about thgs … om a h perspective.

” Qutn Sourc Sce the exposure of the “A Gay Girl Damasc” hoax, many of those who were duped have been forthg, publishg tails of the affair. Image ptn, An onle mpaign was lnched to secure "Ama's" release after the blog told of her arrtThe stunt behd a hoax blog which claimed to be wrten by a gay woman Syria has fend his MacMaster, a US stunt at the Universy of Edburgh, said the blog had been a fictn - but that the facts ntaed were 40-year-old married man's blog, A Gay Girl Damasc, scribed life the Syrian cy amid the current polil gaed a worldwi rearship and was closely followed by news blog, datg back to Febary this year, claimed to document the life of 25-year-old Ama Abdallah Arraf al-Omari, a half-Syrian, half-Amerin lbian livg Damasc. Those wrgs stopped abptly last Monday, and a postg on her blog, “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” a said Ama had been hled away by ernment secury of her disappearance beme an Inter and media sensatn.

On Wednday, pictur of her on the blog were revealed to have been taken om a London woman's Facebook Sunday, the tth spilled out: The gay girl Damasc nfsed to beg a 40-year-old Amerin man om persona Tom MacMaster built and cultivated for years — a lbian who was half Syrian and half Amerin — was a tantalizg Inter-era fictn, one that he ed to brg attentn to the human rights rerd of a untry where media rtrictns make tradnal reportg almost Sunday, MacMaster apologized on the blog. "MacMaster, a Middle East peace activist who is workg on his master’s gree at the Universy of Edburgh Stland, wrote that he fictnalized the acunt of a gay woman Syria to illumate the suatn for a Wtern hoax rais difficult qutns about the reliance on blogs, tweets, Facebook postgs and other Inter munitns as they creasgly bee a standard way to report on global events.

THE EXC AND CONSEQUENC OF THE 'GAY GIRL DAMASC' HOAX

The edor said she had termed that Ama's e-mails had been sent om a puter several terviews, the edor — who spoke on ndn that she be intified only by her psdonym, Pla Brooks — said she enuraged Ama to wre more, first on Lez Get Real and later on a new blog, tled “A Gay Girl Damasc. "Wispread ncernThe ntroversy over “A Gay Girl Damasc” has created anguish among her fans.

HOAX: FROM THE HLER DIARI TO GAY GIRL DAMASC

As spicns of a hoax grew, many exprsed outrage that attentn had turned away om the creasgly vlent ernment crackdown ntroversy has also angered many the lbian and gay muny, which rallied around Ama.

Tom MacMaster claims good tentns spiraled "out of ntrol, " g harm to manyThis article is om the archive of our partner Sunday, after a week-long vtigatn, we learned that the thor behd the Gay Girl Damasc blog was not a gay Syrian-Amerin woman named Ama Abdallah Arraf abducted Syria for her dissint polil and social views. Over the last 24 hours, MacMaster has changed the tle of his blog om "A Gay Girl Damasc" to "A Hoax that got way out of hand, " penned two posts apologizg to rears, and granted several terviews. " Good Intentns Gone Awry: MacMaster is more repentant  a follow-up post today, llg himself the "worst person the world, " acknowledgg the harm he's ed, and explag that his 'Gay Girl Damasc' adventure "started nocently enough.

MacMaster, a lot of the real activists the LGBT muny beme unr the spotlight of the thori Syria, " argu a gay Syrian activist named Daniel Nassar.

GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX: EDWARD SAID'S DGHTER TALKS ABOUT 'ORIENTALIST' AMA-CREATOR TOM MACMASTER.

The famo New Yorker rtoon now needs updatg to "on the ter nobody knows you're not a Syrian lbian", after the gay chronicler of the Syrian uprisg turned out to be a beard Amerin livg plenty of reporters have disvered this and prev s, is gettg ever harr to verify the inty of someone who to you wh a great story.

'A GAY GIRL DAMASC': HOW THE HOAX UNFOLD

In the se of the gay girl Damasc, journalists did rry out terviews wh the blogger, but they were nducted via email. After all, the real inty of the gay girl Damasc was unveiled far more rapidly than the name of the man behd the Hler Diari. Gay Girl Damasc.

Za, an ironic name, homonymo wh the word for sexual misnduct.

HOW TO HOAX YOURSELF: THE CASE OF A GAY GIRL DAMASC

Gay Girl. Febary to April, 2011: MacMaster giv sporadic updat om his character, rangg om polil analysis and hard news acunts of the btal reprsn of the untry’s pro-mocracy movement to love poetry and Mills and Boon-que homosexual memoirs. Female, gay and half-Amerin, Ama Abdullah is pturg the imagatn of the Syrian opposn wh a blog that has shot to promence as the prott movement stggl the face of a btal ernment crackdown.

Her blog, A Gay Girl Damasc, is btally hont, pokg at subjects long nsired taboo Arab culture. CNN also publish an email terview wh Ama, which the character was quoted as sayg: "A whole lot of long time chang are g sudnly bubblg to the surface and views towards women, gay people and mori are rapidly changg, ". Lecic claims she has been placed danger by beg associated wh a homosexual Syria.

'GAY GIRL IN DAMASC' TURNS OUT TO BE AN AMERIN MAN

Tom MacMaster, wily reported to be a 40-year-old Amerin studyg for a Master's gree at Edburgh Universy, claimed to be the sole thor of the Gay Girl Damasc blog.

The blog A Gay Girl Damasc began appearg early 2011, wh. Over the last several months, Ama Arraf, a blogger who said she was Syrian-Amerin and went by the name Gay Girl In Damasc, ptured the world's attentn. Today, the Gay Girl In Damasc blog end the mystery, postg an apology that revealed Ama was fact the work of Tom MacMaster, an Amerin om Geia whose universy rerds show is a medieval studi graduate program at the Universy of Edburgh Stland.

ANDREW ORR ON “THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX”

The revelatn me hours after NPR approached Brta Froelicher, his wife, wh some evince that nnected her wh Gay Girl In Damasc. She was a gay woman livg a untry where beg gay is illegal.

Early on the Arab Sprg, a blog that had already existed for several years went viral: A Gay Girl Damasc by Ama Arraf, a Syrian-Amerin Mlim woman, who wrote about the uprisgs Syria and her life as a lbian Damasc.

THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX

Andrew Orr, Profsor of Milary History and Secury Studi at Kansas State Universy, has lved to the qutns his newly published book, “The Gay Girl Damasc Hoax.

The blogs were wrten not by a gay girl Damasc, but a middle-aged Amerin man based MacMaster, a 40-year-old Middle East activist studyg for a masters at Edburgh Universy, posted an update clarg that, rather than a 35-year-old femist and lbian lled Ama Abdallah Araf al Omari, he was "the sole thor of all posts on this blog". But provoked a fur rponse om those who had supported the blogger's mpaign, wh some the Syrian gay muny sayg he had risked their safety and serly harmed their blog A Gay Girl Damasc was lnched Febary, purportedly to expla "what 's like to be a lbian here", and gathered a growg followg as Syria's popular uprisg gaed momentum recent months. If you don't follow NPR's Andy Carv on Twter, let me be the first to tell you that The Gay Girl Damasc is actually a 40-year-old Amerin guy wh a beard.

THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX, 'MASS RAPE' LIBYA, AND PRS CRLY