I’m a bit new here, but I’d recommend posting a new thread about this in the Hoaxes section then.

And I got the Professor X thing, I just couldn’t resist an X-Men joke.

Woot! Can’t wait.

danbloom - 07 June 2009 01:25 AM

Let’s look at the info so far:

From where?

Dear Professor X.

What’s all this?  Who is writing this?  Who is Professor X, other than a bald guy in a wheelchair?  What’s this all about?

I ran across your name while researching the details surrounding The Mascot…..

In what regards?

While The Mascot has yet to be debunked, I find the story outrageous and frankly impossible to believe.

How so?  And in what way is this unknown person qualified to make such a judgment?

I have been in contact with some researchers

Who?

and although they has not read the book

So of what value is their testimony about the book?

, he confirmed

Why did this suddenly switch from plural to singular tense?

that others have expressed my views to him about the story’s credibility.

So a man who hasn’t read the book has said that some people have questioned the book’s story.  He didn’t say that he questions it, but that other people have asked him about it.  So what?

I have attempted to contact officials at The Penguin Group

Who, and how?  And with regard to what?

and have attached two letters for your review.

What letters?

Like Professor V

Who?

, my inquiries have been ignored.

In what way?

One editor even refused to speak to me which raises more concerns.

Why should he spend time speaking to you?  Do you think that he has nothing else in life to do other than to hang around the telephone waiting in case you call?

The Penguin Group has a track record of publishing stories that turn out to be hoaxes.

What major publisher doesn’t?  Do you have any evidence showing that they knew those stories to be hoaxes when they published them?  And they also have published much that is true.  Each book has to be judged on its own.

I am writing to you to determine if you have done any research on the veracity of the story told in The Mascot. I would be very interested in your opinion.

And then. . .?

.....The story has been featured on national television including 60 Minutes.

So what?

Penguin refuses to address the issue as they did when others like Danny Bloom inquired about Angel at the Fence.

Huh?  What are you talking about?

That was an incredibly vague and uninformative post.

Swing it Accipter.

I can’t wait to hear what Professor X has to say when he gets here.

Probably something profound about how we can’t let this antagonise mutant-human relations.

I read the book, “The Mascot”. The story behind this book could be a field day for an aggressive reporter. Penguin Group USA was just busted late last year for a hoax about the Holocaust and now comes this tale. The clever thing about “The Mascot” is it will be very difficult to prove one way or another if the central character is or is not Jewish. The story is based on the memory of an elderly man recalling events from when he was 5 years old. He remembers minute details, but can’t remember his name. He even claims that at least one soldier in the Nazi military unit that “adopted” him knew he was Jewish. There have been a lot of odd stories from WWII, but this one takes the cake in my opinion. The whole story is preposterous. The “Angel at the Fence” hoax seemed far more plausible then this story.

Has anyone considered that the Nazis considered someone “Jewish” even if they weren’t a Jew themselves, as long as their grandparents were?

MuTheta - 07 June 2009 01:58 AM

The whole story is preposterous.

Why?

ZeldaQueen - 07 June 2009 02:02 AM

Has anyone considered that the Nazis considered someone “Jewish” even if they weren’t a Jew themselves, as long as their grandparents were?

Or even if they looked “Jewish”.  Some Hispanic US soldiers were thrown into concentration camps because they had “Jewish” looks:  darkish skin, wavy hair, and so on.

MuTheta - 07 June 2009 01:58 AM

I read the book, “The Mascot”. The story behind this book could be a field day for an aggressive reporter. Penguin Group USA was just busted late last year for a hoax about the Holocaust and now comes this tale. The clever thing about “The Mascot” is it will be very difficult to prove one way or another if the central character is or is not Jewish. The story is based on the memory of an elderly man recalling events from when he was 5 years old. He remembers minute details, but can’t remember his name. He even claims that at least one soldier in the Nazi military unit that “adopted” him knew he was Jewish. There have been a lot of odd stories from WWII, but this one takes the cake in my opinion. The whole story is preposterous. The “Angel at the Fence” hoax seemed far more plausible then this story.

How is it preposterous that a German soldier would adopt a small boy even if he knew he was Jewish? Do you think all German soldiers (conscripts, I hasten to add) were all mad, rabid Nazis? Of course not. Not all German soldiers were Jew (and Slav, Gyspy, disabled, etc)-hating lunatics who would as soon set the kid on fire as feed him. It’s actually very plausible that a sympathetic soldier would have taken pity.

You attitude infers a generalisation of all German soldiers (and regular Army were very different from the SS who were the really sadistic ones. The Wehrmacht were just regular conscripted soldiers, and not monsters any more than any other army). A Wehrmacht soldier may well have done this.

Now Angel at the Fence is ludicrous. A child getting that close to the fence at a concentration camp stretches the suspension of disbelief too far.

Now Angel at the Fence is ludicrous. A child getting that close to the fence at a concentration camp stretches the suspension of disbelief too far.

Sounds like “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”

danbloom - 07 June 2009 02:04 AM

Can you name names withoput getting into libel or lawsuit territory?

I’m pretty sure that if you say on this website “I believe that this story is true because of” or “I believe that it is false because of” then you’d be safe.  It’s when you start yelling, “The author of this book is a lying Nazi spy and was trained by the Illuminati Reptoids to spread disinformation!” that you might have trouble.