Anyone with an email account has gotten viral emails reporting negative things about some issue or person. Obama. Romney. Health care. Medicare. Doctors. Federal legislators. Oil companies. Taxes. And many more -- including Mister Rogers.
Once received and believed as truth, the recipient (not me***) sends the "truth" viral email to all their email correspondents. A few days ago, I heard one of those "fact filled" viral emails related at the RV park social hour.
Are there no skeptics. Where is the BS detector. What about common sense. How about thinking a bit.
Seems most of society has become automatons as a result of the years of brain washing.
No thinking is allowed in schools. Just regurgitate the answers that were drilled in.
No thinking is allowed in religion; it's all about belief and a single book that was written based on oral histories of 2000 years ago.
No thinking is permitted in some work places; just do the job. You are not hired to think.
After all that training not to think, what can be expected. Since people have been conditioned not to think or question, the viral email is truth.
The internet is a useful and great research tool. However, it is just a tool. A hammer is a tool; used for construction or destruction. The internet as a tool is a medium for cranks and crackpots to spread their untruths and beliefs via those viral emails.
As the receiver of the email, use the internet tools to research the veracity of the email.
Time for a skeptic approach to internet derived "truths". Think. Question.
*** Note: I no longer get those emails. Each time I received one of those, I reply with the real facts -- usually with a URL to Snopes.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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Well said!! One of my favorite rants.
ReplyDeleteCould not agree more! I used to send replies with a link to Snopes (which almost always refuted the "lie du jour") but finally gave up.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
PS - Mary loves the 56 Chevy in your heading. Her first car.
I delete more emails than I read.
ReplyDeletePerhaps thinking has become a lost art because it has become confused with what is mere media consumption. The recent trends on the internet compound this problem. Reading websites is becoming less important, and watching video fluff is increasing. The whole tablet phenomenon pushes the internet experience in the direction of mindless media consumption.
ReplyDeleteDaryl, Received an email. That car is actually a 55. I was to lazy to search the internet to make sure before I posted the photo.
ReplyDeleteBoonie, When I wrote this entry, the words kept coming. I had to cut it off. The tangents included one way talking radio and TV. Confusing entertainment with facts -- or the whole story. Bias in everything including media of all kinds. Soon I found my stream of writing found me wondering if we had arrived at a variation of Orwell's 1984.
I have been doing the same reply...so get almost no junk anymore! However, I did receive an interesting email informing me that Obama controlled Snopes, so it was not to be trusted! Guess that "friend of a friend" who's 4th cousin 42 times removed is a better resource for the truth!
ReplyDeleteA local (Denver) tv station does a "Fact Check" on political ads. As it turns out most of the time, both Obama and Romney ads contain half truths,, misinterpretations, and truth stretching... to the point of blatant lies.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mess alright... trying to find truth, honesty and greed-less politicians. Hip pockets are full...
Box Canyon Mark
I don't get any junk e-mail like that any more because I immediately reply that I'd rather not receive that kind of mail. I give them a couple more e-mails, then I put them on my "spam" list. Everything from them goes into spam and I don't read it.
ReplyDeleteI've done that to two people, they just wouldn't stop. I told them if they have something I need to know, "call me." It's a matter of respect, and an easy way to get the point across.
Aren't I mean??? :)