Arrows of Mass Destruction

You may recall that a few months ago there was a news item about a "lost tribe" that had been found in Brazil. The natives had never had any contact with the outside world, and an aerial photo showed members of the tribe trying to shoot arrows at the plane.

The world was stunned that even now, well into the 21st century, with instant global communication available in the most remote reaches of our planet, such an isolated and previously undiscovered group could exist.

Well, guess what? Turns out the photo was a fake. Sorta.

While no one is known to have actually had a face-to-face meeting with members of the group, they had actually been documented almost a century ago. Since then the Brazilian government has monitored the isolated tribe from a distance, as they do with many such indigenous natives.

The man who released the photo says he pulled off the hoax to draw international attention to the fact that such isolated people still exist. Advocacy groups see such groups as under threat from the outside world.

Needless to say, major news media organizations are somewhat chagrined that they fell for the stunt. Hell, they should be downright embarrassed.

This story has turned out to be the biggest hoax perpetrated upon the world since that whole WMDs in Iraq thing.