Word has just broke that the story concerning Notre Dame Heisman-trophy finalist Manti Te'o's girlfriend's death was a hoax. As reported by Deadspin, there was no documentation of one Lennay Kekua dying or ever even existing. The two supposedly met via Twitter and engaged in an online relationship for about a year. What appears to have happened is one of two things - either a person (or group of people) played a hoax on Te'o for whatever sick reason, or Te'o was part of the hoax, in an attempt to garner favorable publicity.
I'm now seeing this story pop up just about everywhere. I've seen it mentioned 3+ times on Facebook already just amongst my group of friends. When searching "Manti Te'o" and "hoax" on Google, 116,000 results now show. It seems as if a majority of people believe Te'o knew about the hoax and was in on it. The reasoning? "He had to have known about it. How could anyone be so naive?"
I think we should hold off before casting judgment on Te'o. Is it possible he knew about the hoax and was in on it? Yes. However, we don't have all the facts before us yet and haven't heard Te'o himself respond to all the questions surrounding this breaking news. If it is true that Te'o knew about the hoax and lied to the country about it for the duration of last season, that would be incredibly sad and disappointing. However, I don't think we can ignore the possibility that he perhaps didn't know about the hoax, and the media (and people in general) should hold off on demonizing the guy before we know the full truth.
Is it possible for someone to be "naive" like that? Yes, it is. Let's just look at this story. Let's just assume for a second that Te'o wasn't aware of the hoax and was rather naive about the situation; he wouldn't be the only one who was naive regarding this story. What about the media? The people at home? Especially the media? Where was the investigative journalism? Why are we only finding out now - on January 16th of 2013 - after the college football season, that the story we heard about all season regarding Manti Te'o and the death of his girlfriend was a hoax? If Te'o was naive regarding this hoax and not in on it himself, the media would only be projecting to say that the Notre Dame linebacker was too naive. The fact of the matter would be that the media would have eaten up the story just as Te'o, and many people at home did. The media wanted to believe the story. It was a great, powerful, and inspirational story. They wanted it to be true. The people at home love powerful stories, so we too were inspired by it. In this possible scenario, Te'o too wanted to believe the story himself. If it comes to light that he was the victim of a hoax, I hope that others whom ate up the story along side Te'o don't cast judgment on him, especially the media. It's one thing for Te'o to believe the story himself and quite another for the media to report it to the homes of everyone in this country. I personally hope that for his sake, Te'o was the victim of this atrocious act. However, I will wait until all the facts are released and he answers questions before deciding whether or not I feel he was complicit in the act. I hope others, especially in the media, follow suit.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/01/16/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-deadspin/1840415/
I'm now seeing this story pop up just about everywhere. I've seen it mentioned 3+ times on Facebook already just amongst my group of friends. When searching "Manti Te'o" and "hoax" on Google, 116,000 results now show. It seems as if a majority of people believe Te'o knew about the hoax and was in on it. The reasoning? "He had to have known about it. How could anyone be so naive?"
I think we should hold off before casting judgment on Te'o. Is it possible he knew about the hoax and was in on it? Yes. However, we don't have all the facts before us yet and haven't heard Te'o himself respond to all the questions surrounding this breaking news. If it is true that Te'o knew about the hoax and lied to the country about it for the duration of last season, that would be incredibly sad and disappointing. However, I don't think we can ignore the possibility that he perhaps didn't know about the hoax, and the media (and people in general) should hold off on demonizing the guy before we know the full truth.
Is it possible for someone to be "naive" like that? Yes, it is. Let's just look at this story. Let's just assume for a second that Te'o wasn't aware of the hoax and was rather naive about the situation; he wouldn't be the only one who was naive regarding this story. What about the media? The people at home? Especially the media? Where was the investigative journalism? Why are we only finding out now - on January 16th of 2013 - after the college football season, that the story we heard about all season regarding Manti Te'o and the death of his girlfriend was a hoax? If Te'o was naive regarding this hoax and not in on it himself, the media would only be projecting to say that the Notre Dame linebacker was too naive. The fact of the matter would be that the media would have eaten up the story just as Te'o, and many people at home did. The media wanted to believe the story. It was a great, powerful, and inspirational story. They wanted it to be true. The people at home love powerful stories, so we too were inspired by it. In this possible scenario, Te'o too wanted to believe the story himself. If it comes to light that he was the victim of a hoax, I hope that others whom ate up the story along side Te'o don't cast judgment on him, especially the media. It's one thing for Te'o to believe the story himself and quite another for the media to report it to the homes of everyone in this country. I personally hope that for his sake, Te'o was the victim of this atrocious act. However, I will wait until all the facts are released and he answers questions before deciding whether or not I feel he was complicit in the act. I hope others, especially in the media, follow suit.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/01/16/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-deadspin/1840415/
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