BBC documentary about Belle Gibson, influencer who pretended to have cancer

[beschizza]

Originally published at: BBC documentary about Belle Gibson, influencer who pretended to have cancer | Boing Boing

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[Papasan]

What an awful person. Perhaps Munchausen disease?

[bobtato]

@BBC blurbsmith

who was the real Belle Gibson – an ingenious con artist or damaged young woman trapped in a lie?

I can’t wait fo find out whether she is a genius, a victim, or no other possibility.

Good to know BBC Three is still parodying itself as a bizarre hybrid between “credulous tween pop imbecile” and “moralizing Victorian governess”. Which is the same vibe as the beeb in general, but when they package it for youth condescension the mask really comes off.

[generic_name]

Maybe the internet and social media has made it so these kinds of grifts are easier to do, so someone who decades ago might have done little more than shoplift a Snickers bar now has the option to run a big scheme. Or maybe it’s all the same and we just notice it more because of the 24-7 news cycle and constant internet info pummeling.

[anothernewbbaccount]

so license payers outside the UK might need a VPN based there until they get home

Yeah, right. Very well phrased.

[jstnmbrwn]

I’ve heard stories that you can make an Firestick boot up with a VPN. I suppose if you were to make an Amazon account with a UK postcode and register for iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4 and UKTV(Dave) using that info you used for Amazon, you could probably watch a lot of British TV.

Hell you could probably even watch things like Love Island live, or Taskmaster, or WILTY or Richard Osman’s House of Games, or Big Zuu’s Big Eats.

It’s probably a pretty fun project.

[PPK]

Grifter. Xeni’s original article is worth re-reading, and my comment from then still stands (damnit I can’t believe over 6 years have passed):

'Wellness Guru' Belle Gibson lied about having brain cancer, profited from lying about bogus cancer cures

I have to agree with Xeni’s observations here. Especially the ones about those who, by publishing these kind of bullshit claims, lead people away from the solid science behind real treatments and into the murky paths of ‘alternative’ (i.e. made-up) medicine. My wife (and partner of 28 years) was keen on alternative therapies, but reasonably discerning (although I had to bite my tongue over some that she felt were the ‘real deal’). She never smoked or drank, had a handful of vitamins every day (…

[jstnmbrwn]

Holy shit, somehow I’m able to watch this doc.

I’m a cancer survivor, my diagnosis was a few months before Xeni’s. I knew a bit about Belle Gibson, but her scam is so much worse then I knew. The BS we all know about was the 2nd time she had pulled a fake illness online.

Fuck her. I knew I she was horrible, but it’s even worse then I knew.

[serfer0]

Oi Guvnas! Can anyone recommend a not too evilish VPN for use “until I get back home?” Er, 'ome. Mate.

[bleacherbum]

As I understand it, Oz has a pretty decent healthcare system and is in the top five worldwide as far as cancer survival rates.

How good does a health care system have to be before people won’t pay for woo? I suppose “no one is sick or ever dies” is the answer.

@generic_name

notice it more because of the 24-7 news cycle

This. About halfway into the Trump administration I just decided to go on a TV news fast and am still on it, except for really major events. I avoid all the everyday scandals and scares, and I think I’m healthier and happier as a result. YMMV of course.

[jyoti]

Fuck Belle Gibson. She’s a piece of shit. She actively harmed so many people with her appalling grift. And, when she was taken to court and fined for her actions, she did not pay and never has. But has managed to scam some poor fool “housemate” or “friend” into paying for her (pre-pandemic) extended overseas trips, while claiming to be broke. She’s broke all right - completely morally and ethically bankrupt and devoid of a conscience. And, I understand, she has a child. Who I feel incredibly sorry and fearful for.

In conclusion: fuck pathological liar Belle Gibson. In my admittedly biased view, the BBC and the documentary maker should never have green-lighted this project, which will only give this vampiric attention-whore further exposure she clearly so desperately craves.

Cancer fraudster Belle Gibson's home raided over $500,000 in unpaid fines

[oldstevo]

Surfshark

[oldstevo]

[phuzz]

@bobtato

Good to know BBC Three is still parodying itself as a bizarre hybrid between “credulous tween pop imbecile” and “moralizing Victorian governess”.

And then they go and give us something like The Mighty Boosh, or Ideal, just to keep everyone guessing.

[Purplecat]

@bobtato

Good to know BBC Three is still parodying itself as a bizarre hybrid between “credulous tween pop imbecile” and “moralizing Victorian governess”.

BBC Three is a concentrated dose of everything that’s wrong with the BBC at the moment. It’s the inevitable end result of staffing a channel with rich media graduates in their 20s who have all come through the same internships, and therefore think that their collective twitter feeds are the Zeitgeist of “yoof” experience in the UK today. And the corporation as a whole indulges them so hard by relentlessly pushing their failed channel across all its other websites and gives it pride of place on iPlayer.

[FGD135]

My SO is a long term cancer survivor, and I am not amused. At all.