Follow the Money
I. The cigarette industry made millions of dollars by carefully molding an image of smoking as desirable, safe, and even healthy. When their profits were threatened, they made a concerted effort to convince the public that research linking cigarettes to cancer was controversial, when in fact the vast majority of scientists believed the link to be true.
II. When Arthur Conan Doyle publicly expressed his belief that the Cottingley Fairy photographs were real, he helped lend a legitimacy to the photographs that would last for decades - and bring in money for those who told the story.
III. The Winsted, Connecticut reporter, Lou Stone, eventually admitted that he spun a tall tale about the Wild Man, in part, to sell newspapers and bring tourist business to Winsted. Stone had an active imagination that was able to write stories with wide public appeal and turn a profit.
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