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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2311 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 23, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Who are some people that you strongly suspect to be fabulists that the general populace has not identified?

I made a comment in the context of Jason Arday about fabulists and I used Jordan Belfort, Marcus Luttrell, Chris Kyle, Greg Mortenson, Frank Abagnale, Jr. as examples. I called out or was suspicious of all of them other than Abagnale and I chalk that up to me hearing his story as a child and then not thinking about it. Took 0 convincing.

Not sure if you’re aware but Abagnale has been exposed as a fraud. I forget who the guy was but there was a comprehensive analysis done that examined his backstory (and a subsequent book has even been written about it) that dismantles his con job; and the movie his story is based on was a complete fabrication. Just like other movies like Bloodsports, Frank Dux was completely exposed as a fraud and his story is wholly made up.

A fraud within a fraud. I assumed @zoink was aware of this but his query still holds with Abagnale as an exemplar.

Correct, I first heard Abagnale's story on Focus on the Family when I was a child. I saw him speak in person in my early 20's. While I didn't peg him as a fabulist back then it took zero convincing that he was a fraud within a fraud when I first heard the allegations.

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