Lions and Tigers and Bears!

Oh! My!

I’m sure you’ve seen the messages in your inbox. They’re usually from a friend or relative who’s just outraged/worried/offended at an e-mail they got from a friend or relative of theirs.

Like these:

Barack Obama’s campaign is being funded by Hugo Chavez!

Your cell phone number is going to be given to telemarketers in just 4 days!

Lemon Wedges are contaminating your drinks in restaurants!

And the latest: The University of Kentucky has removed the Holocaust from their curriculum so they don’t offend Muslims!

All these “stories” have two things in common: 1) They’re widely circulated over the Internet. 2). They’re false

In addition to becoming a major source of information and communication, the Internet has also become a major vehicle for spreading rumors and innuendo, and (often) messages of hatred.

We tend to believe the messages we get from friends and family – they must know, right? They wouldn’t send me something that was not true? So, we get these messages and send them along to our friends, maintaining the chain.

The next time you get ANY message from ANYONE telling you about Barack, or Hillary, or a missing girl, or lemon wedges, do the following (please):

Stop
Think
Visit www.snopes.com and check out the rumor.

Snopes started out as an urban myth debunking site that has grown into a major source for information about all these messages. I have found that about 95% of the junk like this I get is just that – junk.

Check out the rumor, and if it is false, or if it’s not quite true, do us all a favor: Reply All to the message, so you can hopefully stop the spread of this garbage, and include a link to Snopes.

Here’s the message I usually send out:

Friends: I’m sorry to tell you that the (message/rumor) that we just got is false. You can check it out for yourself at www.snopes.com. Please – before you send out these kinds of messages, check them out to make sure they’re true. The Internet is such a great source for information, but it’s often abused by well-meaning (and not-so-well meaning) people all the time.

-Bob