E-Mail Hoaxes

For years I have been getting hoaxes in the mail. They can be very entertaining but unfortunately too many otherwise sensible people believe the most incredible rubbish. What is worrying is some of their reactions when told they have been taken in by a hoax. I have a niece who stopped communications when I told her the bonsai kittens that so horrified her were a load of nonsense created on a computer and not to worry about them. Perhaps I was not tactful but it was difficult to accept a member of my family could be quite so gullible.

Lately I have been a member of an international e-mail group most of whom are lovely people full of humor and kindness but here too the hoax seems to reign supreme. One can tell which party they support by the hoaxes they forward, sometimes indignantly, sometimes gleefully as the gospel truth. Some have even been adapted to local politics but fortunately the adaptor forgets to change the language sufficiently to disguise the origin of the scurrilous or inflammatory nonsense.

I love seeing my pet hates trashed as much as anyone but honesty forbids. I check the information before sending it on. So far the score is about ninety five to one against the letter/article being the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Seeing as I live here in the US the local nonsense is the most obvious to me. The Right and Left Wings of both parties seem to have a busy little cottage industry going in the twist and distort business. These articles get forwarded around the world, how stupid do these people really want to look to the outside world? On the other hand do they really want the world to believe the worst of their country? Are they so blinded by hate they don't care?

Bonsai kittens, hairy fish and little green men are fine. They mostly raise a laugh and are forgotten but the lies achieve a life of their own and only add to the divisions which exist and hamper the country.

Please, before forwarding some scurrilous rubbish and adding to the hate and distrust take the the time to check the facts.

The businesses who get targeted, usually as unpatriotic or purveying some hidden/harmful substance in their food, should go to the trouble of finding the origin of the slander and damned well sue the originator. Of course, if their product really does what is claimed......

To those starting hate mail, chain letters etc. you should know you can be traced if anyone cares enough to do so.

Here are a few resources: Once at one of these sites you can spend hours reading some of the nonsense that has been published on the internet or see the cost of useless useless chain letters.

Stop That Hoax

Truth or Fiction

Hoax Busters

Snopes

Union of Concerned Scientists