This guy got Freshly Pressed, and deservedly so.
For all my family, friends, and acquaintances who wish I would just shut the fuck up and let them believe all manner of nonsense, be it pseudoscience, political or what-have-you.
THIS:
There are people in my own circle of friends who do this kind of thing all the time, this spreading of disinformation via their own lack of information. What makes me nuts is that several of these people have jobs that are fact-dependent, that require critical thinking or enhanced deductive capabilities. In some cases, lives are in the balance and only a well-considered action is acceptable. Intelligent, detailed, capable people who toss all that shit right out the window when they see a photo with words pasted onto it. Then it’s game on, facts be damned.** Some have been guilty of this since the Fwd:Fwd:Fwd: days, and they have gotten downright pissy with me for calling them out on this willful spread of low-grade ca-ca.
Why do I care, you ask? Because it’s a waste of time. Because I want to believe that the people around me aren’t knee-jerk emotional reactionists willing to dispense with logic because the internet is such a shining bastion of quality information. Because it takes no time at all to stop, consider, and question. Because truth is better than bullshit. Because right is better than wrong, especially when wrong does nothing to move us forward.
So, when I send back your email with links to Snopes or other information correcting your error, or comment on your BS Facebook posting, this is why. Truth matters. Always.
More than that, I love you and I don’t want you to look like a fool.
There is one person who forwards me stuff so I can check it out . . . it usually takes me 2-3 minutes, and I send her back the links . . .
I like her, and we’ve known each other for over 30 years, but . . . why the heck doesn’t she look this stuff up? Especially as I repeatedly send her the appropriate links.
. . . I used to get annoyed, but now I accept it as “the way things are”.
You too, huh? Yeah, I’ve turned into the go-to person for “Can you check this out?” emails. Sigh. I really want them to learn how to do it themselves. I think I’m going to have to start coaching them, rather than spoon-feeding them. But, as you’ve noted, easier said than done, eh?
Nice post. I find the science behind “pseudo-science” fascinating though, don’t you? Wacky stuff. Anyways, “More than that, I love you and I don’t want you to look like a fool.” sounds like coercion a bit. Just saying.
A great book I had about this stuff was called “Kooks”, probably on Amazon.
You may call it coercion, I call it having their back. Just as I’d like someone to point out when I had spinach in my teeth or toilet paper stuck to my shoe.
Yeah I guess, but remember that 90% of their world is nutty shit. So I’d save some energy there. Maybe wait until they start speaking in tongues
Lol! yep! Sometimes it feels like usury and you begin to wonder the point of internet relationships. Who are they really and why are you bothering? When I’ve tried coaching they just send me crap anyway. I could be just a bad coach, but I really think there is just a disparity in care and effort. Or maybe my snob is showing.
You can generally tell when I make something up on my blog because it tends to be pretty outrageous and deliberately so, but I am amazed at the amount of people that ask afterwards is it true. At this point I generally panic because I don’t want to offend someone by making them think they are an idiot or they failed to see he joke so I just affirm that something is true and from that day forwards that bit of information becomes a fact, at least to that person!!
I love the internet.