There used to be a time that only facts (or something similar to it) were recorded in the depositories of knowledge, however with the proliferation of the internet (and later instant messaging), people have intentionally (and unintentionally) perverted this until it's become harder to differentiate fact from fiction.
Well that's not true exactly, the truth is still relatively easy to discern via a handy-dandy search engine, or by using Snopes -- my favourite debunker of bullshit. (You can also watch the show "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" on Showtime for some more knowledge, delivered with a humourous edge.)
However, most people (you know who you are) are too trusting &/ too lazy to check the facts for themselves. They then pass on the garbage to you, which makes you more likely to believe it to be true (if you received it from someone you think to be intelligent).
This is a horrible sign for the future of our civilization (no, seriously). If it is so easy to trick a huge proportion of the populace with easily refutable lies, it becomes that much more lucrative to oppress, manipulate, and extort all of us! Don't believe me? Exhibits A-Z are the Republican Party in the United States of America, who have made lying boldly an art-form.
Now just because you've been tricked, it doesn't mean you're stupid/foolish -- I've been tricked a couple times, and I know I'm fairly intelligent. I once had to embarrassingly inform my co-workers to ignore the garbage I'd sent them regarding Mars being as large as the Moon in the sky (*face-palm*). This is why you must develop a healthy level of skepticism!
"The Fake Matrix Settlement"
This is the last piece of fiction that tricked me, in fact, it was while researching this article that I discovered it was fake! This was a tricky one, as there is truth mixed in with a huge heaping of fiction.
(From Snopes)
The Fiction: Monday, October 4th 2004 ended a six-year dispute involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski Brothers, Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations, involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were received and acknowledged by the Central District of California, Judge Margaret Morrow residing.
Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City for the past five years, will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels. She will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.
Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix, which she felt had been based on her manuscript, "The Third Eye," copyrighted in 1981. In the mid-eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.
The Fact: Stewart's case was dismissed in June 2005 when she failed to show up for a preliminary hearing of her case. In a 53-page ruling, Judge Margaret Morrow of the Central District Court of California dismissed the suit, saying Stewart and her attorneys had not entered any evidence to bolster its key claims or demonstrated any striking similarity between her work and the accused directors' films. As of this writing, Stewart's case is no longer before the courts. She has announced that she does not plan to let the matter drop, so possibly this case will someday be re-filed and heard, but for now it is over.
The Last Word
The following was sent to me by a friend who was as pissed as I after getting many a stupid forward via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). It could be applied to many emails as well though! - QBF
Stupid FWD Counteraction #1
Hello, my name is Ner Ditrickster.
I create semi-convincing BB broadcasts to trick you into rebroadcasting them so you can give me bragging rights amongst my nerdy friends. We love to laugh when you think you will have your contacts deleted if you do not broadcast, or if you think new emoticons will appear or money will be donated to some dying kid.
The fact is, I have no life and I want to suck you into my dismal existence and make you look like a loser too. Keep following me. Or else the central chip in your blackberry will selfdestruct within 1 hour. No, 30 minutes!
Regards,
Ner Ditrickster
Stupid FWD Counteraction #2
PLEASE READ AND HEED.
Listen carefully I will say this only once...
1. BBM broadcasts are for messages only. You cannot update your bbm, change your pic, get special characters or notify anybody that your account is active.
2. U cannot get a virus via bbm, nor can your account get hacked by adding anybody of if your friends add somebody.
3. RIM (the makers of BlackBerry) will never bestow upon you the task to give your friends a message for them. That's like Cable and Wireless telling u to please call all your friends and tell them to call their friends so they could test out the network.
4. No one (not even the Red cross) will give any amount of cents to anyone to cure any disease every time u forward a BBM. How are they even gonna track it? Eh?
5. Unless u have info that can lead to an arrest, i.e. exact time, location, personal details, hair color, eye colour, scars, tattoos, blood type, etc... Leave it to the police. Don't send "a man in a blue shirt just grab a woman purse in town, stop him if u see him" message. In today's society more and more men have purses of their own, I'm not gonna skate tackle the first blue shirt wearing, purse-toting man I see.
In closing, please think before u forward a BBM, ask yourself, "Does this make sense?" If after much thought u still wanna send plz untick me...
Thanx.
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