>There's a difference between believing someone I know and trust (in this case, my mother), and some random guy on HN (who I don't know at all, much less trust) who claims some of his friends (who I don't even know exist) claimed something.

I can play that game, too:

There's a difference between believing someone I know and trust (in this case, my father, uncle, and the fathers and uncles of close friends), and some random guy on HN (who I don't know at all, much less trust) who claims some sociologist (who I never previously heard of) claimed something.

>You must be joking.

If it's as prevalent as you seem to believe, you should have no problem producing some concrete examples.

>Assuming the source of the initial report of the woman getting spat on was the Coast Guard, this might be true. But there is no indication in the FOX story that this was the case.

Since you clearly missed it the first time, I'll repeat myself:

>The first sentence of the story is: "The Coast Guard in Boston confirmed that a woman in uniform was harrassed and spat upon near Occupy Boston protesters."