Each of us have email addresses; several of us have MySpace accounts or some other networking site account. So I am guessing that most of you have received the email hoaxes that I am referring to.
That or your MySpace Bulletins have been flooded with similar hoaxes.
Like when Bill Gates was going to give out so much money if you forwarded an email for Microsoft to track? Or about the maggot-like "bugs" that infiltrated a woman's breasts because she didn't wash a new bra before wearing it? How about the people who were knocking out innocent passers-by in parking lots by pretending to sell perfume and getting them to sniff ethanol?
"Whether they take the form of a comic image of a giant cat or a desperate plea from a sick child, chain e-mail messages and Internet frauds are elements of the online landscape that we've all encountered. No topic is off limits: a medical warning, a promise of free money, or a believably (or shoddily) Photoshopped image. But at the end of the day, they're just elaborate hoaxes or clever pranks--..."
I am tired of seeing these emails and other hoaxes plaguing my inbox and my bulletins. Even some of the users on this site have been duped into spreading the fear of these hoaxes by posting them as stories and warnings to others.
The article quoted above includes a list of the top 25 hoaxes of all time, as well as a link to Snopes.com (a place where you can check almost any story, see its origin, how it is pulled off - such as Photoshopping images - and other information).
It's sad that people seem to have nothing better to do with their time than to make up stories and stir up fear through some of these stories. But I find it just as sad that so many people feel the need to pass these hoaxes along. Especially when there are resources available that can help check the validity of many of these claims.
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I think that most of these "Hoaxes" actually start off as innocent jokes between friends, they just get blown out of proportion.
Imagine it. Two friends share a joke about something through a bulletin or email. Someone else sees this and reposts it or fowards it. Next thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire and little Bobby Jane checks her myspace bulletins only to see that there is a widespread epidemic of bra maggots...
Most people are naive. They will believe most anything online, and let's face it, most people love to blow things out of proportion...
That's not to say that ALL "hoaxes" are just innocence taken the wrong way. There are those annoying spammers on youtube.com and myspace etc...But we can't do anything about it, so I just ignore them.
Now...reply to this comment in 5 minutes and your crush will call you at 5:27 tomorrow morning...::Rolls eyes::
MM
Interestingly enough, the whole 'Don't buy gas on May 15th' thing that is going around has been disproven on Snopes, but people keep pushing it around like it's going to matter...
~C
Visit my blog.
...those people are just dense, and incidentally are the reasons things like work so well.
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"I'll be in my office...There's a lot of porn piling up on the internet...It doesn't just download itself!"
---Gregory House...My idol---
MM
I get so many of those hoaxes. It's really surprising how many people pass them on without looking them up for accuracy. I always seem to be the one to do the honors. Snopes is my best friend lol.
If I get that don't buy gas message again this week, I'm going to tear my hair out. Seriously.
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." -Huxley
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." -Gandhi
I've gotten chain e-mails that are nothing more than elaborate (or incredibly dumb) hoaxes.
"Reply now and recieve your prize winnings of four million pounds!" (I got something like this recently that said I was entered into some contest. And yes, the prize was in pounds and not dollars.
"Forward this to 15 friends or you will be cursed to live a love-less life!" ("Fifteen friends?" I wonder. "But I don't have that many on my buddy list!")
"If you don't send this message back, the sender will think you don't love them" (If my "friend" is truly that superficial, then he/she can find a new friend)
Those were just some examples. The point is that they're stupid, meaningless, and people fall for them everyday. I even once got an email saying I'd be haunted by some dead girl (who ironically had an email account and would write messages to strangers).
Random statistical fact time:
90% of students leaving high school have no formal training in assessing the credibility of a website. (www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/)
Any further questions on where these emails start or how they spread?
JD
Ah!
What do you suppose causes this type of ignorance? A failure to teach critical thinking (often caused by "memorize this and test it" teaching tactics), or a failure to teach proper researching skills (sometimes caused by limiting the number of resources available to students)?
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
I would have to vote for a combination of both. Fortuanatly there are people out there working to educate kids (see the link in my last comment). This is of course shameless advertising for this organization but on the other hand it is something that really needs everyone's support and is important to have around.
Project Look Sharp constructs lesson packets for teachers of K through 12th grade that educate kids on how to analyze and assess media on different topics. The last topic they did was the Middle East and its protrayal in the media, the next: The environment in the media. They are reaching out to train and educate teachers, and students all over the nation in an attempt to change these statistics. I only hope that they can help, in som small way, to curb the vast amount of blind faith people have in the internet and the media as a whole.
JD