Smear campaigns are hoaxes. Hoax specialist Mark joins us to explain hoaxes, how they work - and how to recognise them. We discuss the psychology, the levers, how they hack our minds, and how they are used. Use these tools to recognise them, as well as how to react when you are the target of a hoax.

Mark runs the insightful website https://americandebunk.com/ when he debunks political hoaxes. In this episode, we do NOT talk of politics, as it is irrelevant to the topic. The goal is to provide listeners and viewers with tools to recognise techniques, so you can assess if something is a hoax, or is not.

I hope you find this episode insightful, and some of the information helps you protect yourself and your reputation, as well as avoid falling for hoaxes created by bad faith actors, in ALL aspects of life.

After a breakup, it is normal to feel some discomfort, and it can be challenging to sit with it. Instead, we might be tempted to numb ourselves, find coping mechanisms. But maybe sitting through it enough - and not too much - is a key to working out deeper themes that need addressing. And sometimes old thoughts surface, memories, that can help us better understanding what happened, and why, and maybe be a bit kinder with ourselves.

I share some thoughts on the topic, I hope you find a few helpful ideas.

From one day to the next, a whole group of people goes weird. But no one says anything. Are we just imagining things? Maybe we did something wrong? So how can we decode this? In this case, a listener is experiencing this in a work environment.

A few things stand out: how can we tell if we're the problem? Usually, being worried we might be is a rather safe indication we are not.

Then, if we can't think of an event that triggered it, it reduces the likelihood there was such an event.

If people are weird around us, we can sometimes identify who is uncomfortable at being gossiped to, and simply ask if they'd let us know if something got weird.

And remember that this could be a form of mobbing, which might require to involve HR, or management.

Consider options to discuss, but also options to leave in case it is unhealthy and there is little or no support.

As always, exercise your judgement and adapt to your situation.

Hope this is helpful and let me know if you have other questions where my take could be useful in providing elements to decode situations.