In the eternal battle of truth versus gossip,
truth doesn’t stand a chance.
My New Year’s resolution is that I won’t get all het up about politics. So far I’ve been pretty successful. I’m tuning it out, and I feel more serene as a result. But one thing I can’t stop obsessing about is urban legends—false stories, spread by gullible people, that you simply must forward immediately to everyone in your address book:
-Warning! Aspartame causes brain tumors!
-Freezing plastic water bottles releases carcinogens!
-So does leaving them in a hot car!
-Jesus will be portrayed as gay in an upcoming movie, so sign this protest to the Attorney General!
I got another one recently: a claim that U.S. criminals are using business cards soaked with “Burundanga” (a.k.a, scopolamine) to incapacitate their victims. The warning purports to be from a police sergeant in Louisville, Kentucky and it says, “If you are a female, take heed! If you are male and have a significant female in your life … pass this along! Always better safe than sorry!”*
It’s not clear why the author thought only women are susceptible, but this false—and sexist—message has been around for more than 3 years and has been forwarded over and over by presumably well-intentioned people who undoubtedly felt they were protecting their friends and relations.
The Misinformation Age
The Hermit Philosopher’s mission of course is to spread truth, not rumor, while musing on the human condition. In this case, there are two “human conditions” at work: (1) the phenomenon of these outrageous e-rumors; and (2) my habit of 0verreacting to them.
First, as I suggested in a recent 3-part series (see Feb. 23 & 25 and Mar. 1), an unintended consequence of better communication technologies (Internet, smart phones, etc.) is the ability to spread lies, untruths and deception ever more easily. Although we have at our fingertips more knowledge in one place than the world has ever known before, there is a staggering amount of misinformation: Nigerian bank fraud scams, get-rich-quick schemes, false claims about public figures, and the imagined dangers in the e-rumors that drive me crazy. It absolutely astounds me that intelligent people continually forward these emails. Are we so naive, or so mendacious, that we no longer care about veracity?
I am told this phenomenon has to do with a parental (most often motherly) desire to demonstrate care and concern for loved ones. Forwarding the warning apparently brings the sender a degree of comfort in the off chance that the message might be true. But I cannot accept that the communication of rumor and falsehood—no matter how well motivated the one who broadcasts it may be—can ever be considered a caring and loving act.
In some contexts, reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of a matter asserted is considered criminal. In my mind it is, at the very least, unethical. Furthermore, the proclivity to worry makes worriers of others, and when done unnecessarily it perpetuates the trait through generations. Prudence is one thing; pusillanimity quite another.
I am reminded of a quote attributed to C.S. Lewis:
If you look for truth you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.**
All of which leads to my second point: that because I am addicted to truth, I overreact to the e-rumor cesspool and try to clean it up all by myself. In the process I raise my own blood pressure and offend some friends and acquaintances. I need to remember that I can control nobody but myself; I need to let this obsession go. Therefore I present...
My New Resolution
Henceforth I will respond, if at all, to stupid and outrageous chain emails with a simple question: "Did you check the facts before you sent this?"
I will then point out that there are some well-respected websites dedicated to helping do just that:
- http://snopes.com/ ***
- http://truthorfiction.com/
- http://urbanlegends.about.com/
- http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/
On these sites you can search a few key words and within seconds determine whether a claim is true, false, or undetermined. For the sake of us all, please do that before you hit "send" next time. Always verify information before forwarding it.Three easy rules of thumb:
1. The more often something has been forwarded, the less likely it is to be true.
2. Except for jokes, any message that says it should be forwarded to everyone you know is either a scam or a lie.
3. If comes from a "friend of a friend" or some other indeterminate source, delete it.
Finally, My Personal Creed--
Don't believe everything you read. Always be skeptical. Always doubt. Demand proof. Spread truth, not rumor.
___
*Like many urban legends, there is a kernel of truth to this story; scopolamine is a drug, but it can’t be used the way the rumor says.
** http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/cslewis141015.html
***For some background on Snopes.com, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/technology/05snopes.html and http://www.rd.com/home/rumor-detectives-true-story-or-online-hoax/
