Quit Shaming Concerned Parents! [RANT]

A local story that made national headlines this past weekend turned out to be a hoax.

Social media was ablaze late Saturday night into early Sunday morning with the report of a pin being found in a Brainerd child's Halloween candy. The first I heard about it was a friend who posted a status update about a pin found in Halloween candy.

It was a friend who posted it, so I shared it on Facebook.

Then another friend shared a Facebook post from the Brainerd Police Department stating that they were investigating a report about a pin being found in Halloween candy.

It was straight from the Brainerd PD's Facebook page, so I shared it.

There was immediate push back.

Facebook friends who are obviously smarter than me insisted it was a hoax; par for the course on Halloween. Pins being found in candy are an old wive's tale. It never happens. This is all just annual domestic terrorism.

And then the report that these people were expecting (and sane people were just hoping for) was released. It was a hoax. A douchebag kid made it up.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The previously-established smart friends of mine attacked.

"I called it!" "I told you!" "You sheeple will share anything, won't you?"

Stories like this one tends to drop society's pants and reveal all of the dicks and assholes to the world.

People (like me, at least) who share these stories aren't out to scare society. I'm not the American Taliban. I'm not sharing because I'm gullible. And I'm not sharing for you.

I'm sharing for the kids and their parents.

As the Brainerd PD even stated, it's best to err on the side of caution. Why not? Halloween is the one time of year where taking candy from strangers is encouraged. The other 364 days of the year, we give every rusty old van that drives by a dirty look. We scold our children for talking to strangers. We ground them for walking onto someone else's property.

But if it's October 31st? Go for it!

"Sure Choad, but we're not telling kids to go up to vehicles for sweets." Have you not heard of Trunk-or-Treating?

Am I standing on a street corner with a megaphone shouting at people to BEWARE?! Nope.

Am I calling you an idiot for dismissing the story before the authorities confirmed that it was a hoax? Nope.

If you talked down to anyone who shared the story - especially when the police department made a statement urging caution - I'm calling you an asshole.

Way to make the story about you for knowing that it wasn't true. Way to make the story about how people are idiots and sheep for believing the story.

If the story was confirmed, would you apologize for being such a jackass? Nope.

Would you say, "Whoa. I didn't think it could be real. My bad"? Nope.

No sane person hoped that the story was true. We all hoped that it was a hoax. But until I received confirmation that it was a hoax from those investigating the allegations, I was not taking the chance that the child of a friend would bite down into pin-laced candy. Not by taking away your child's candy until you checked it, but by sharing a post from the police department.

When the f#*k did urging caution turn into domestic terrorism?!?

/rant