About hoaxes, chain letters etc in the inbox.

[EM]

I hate receiving those kind of emails.  Just received a new one on Friday about the all the meanings of Iraq's name and a verse in the Koran, Chapter 9 verse 11 (9:11) nonetheless.  According to the email the verse has to do with an eagle sweeping down and cleansing the land of Mohamed or Allah or what ever, and how the eagle is the national bird of America.

My natural reaction was to look up verse 9:11 in the Koran, an lo and behold, no eagle.  As a matter of fact not one of three different on line translation of the Koran has the word eagle in it once.  The verse has to do with repentance and giving money to the poor (or to that effect)

My question, what do the other people on the forum do when they receive something like that.  Do you ignore it, or do you reply to the sender with a short (or lengthy ) explanation about what you found.

I reply.  But that has been met with some anger in the past, I have even been removed from some peoples mailing lists, not that I'm complaining.  It irks me that people display such big inertia to the truth, even about things that is not supposed to be close to the heart (ie. it's not about their own religion)

[bluegray V]

I find that those who do complain when you point out the truth, usual sends very little interesting emails anyway.
I usually just reply with a link to snopes.com or whatever. It's amazing how many of these hoax emails seems to still be around - even after years of first appearing. And how few people bother to do a simple google search.

[EM]

And how few people bother to do a simple google search.

Therein lies the the problem and the solution to so much in the ol' world.  People don't like to think, I'm sure for some individuals of our species it actually hurts!   

[qrios]

I think most of them actually believes that something good will happen If they forward it, something bad if they don't, and Nokia is actually gonna send them a phone.....   

[DNA]

Yup,

I just received the email about the Child Protection Unit being shut down (again).

It seems people just forward these these things without doing any research whatsoever.

Some of them are just so obviously nonsense that no research is required, and yet people still send them on......

I am fascinated by how they stay around so long. According to the SAPS website (http://www.saps.gov.za/org_profiles/core_function_components/fcs/hoax.htm ) this email has been going around since 1985. According the breakthechain.org it's been going around since 2001 (http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/cpupet.html). I don't know why there is a discrepancy with the dates, but anyway....

I wonder what the circulation pattern is. It seems to me it should peak and then dissapear, but these things keep on going. Do they lie around people's Inbox, and they then decide to send them 6 months down the line? Seems unlikely, which means they have to be continually circulating.

It would be interesting to know.

Later....

[bluegray V]

The Child Protection Unit is being shut down? I didn't get that one. Can you forward it to me

But seriously...
Thanks for the link to breakthechain.org. But I think there are so many chains. Even if you kill a few, there's always another one left.

[Saint]

The fact that people bloindly forward these hoax and chain mails around is alarming to me because it implies that no one is THINKING anymore....

I simply delete them straight away.

[DNA]

But I think there are so many chains. Even if you kill a few, there's always another one left.

Agreed. This one bugs me although. As if SAPS doesn't have enough on their plate, they now have to deal with a hoax that won't go away.

So far I haven't received one email of this sort that wasn't nonsense.

Is it because it's so easy and seems harmless to forward it on, or do people actually have less critical thinking skills when it comes by email.

It is a bit more difficult with the South African ones, as not too many of them are listed on the "hoax" sites. I remember there was one about road blocks checking for pirated CDs a while back.

I knew it was nonsense because as an amateur musician, composer & recordist I know the copyright laws (at least to a degree, they are quite confusing), and knew there were problems with the claims in the email.

It took a while, but eventually one of the local music sites contacted SAPS and got a definate NO answer.

I've found people will believe the "authority" of a website over my claims, so I like to have something to link to.

it implies that no one is THINKING anymore

Were they doing it before?

Not that I'm one to talk, I often respond to things irrationally. I'm a little emotional. 

Later....

[Saint]

Good question DNA, and maybe they weren't and its only the advent of these idiotic mails that is drawing my attention to the fact!! 

I also HATE these negative, shitty emails about the appalling state of SA...

[moonflake]

Things like this get sent around my office all the time. I always respond with relevant links, etc, and have gained a reputation around the office as a 'mythbuster'. My only hope is that people will eventually start checking these things themselves before forwarding them on to everyone they know.

The most recent one sent around was that deplorable PeTA video with Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls going on about how KFC abuses chickens at 'their facilities', totally ignoring the fact that KFC don't actually have any chicken farms. They buy their chickens from the same commercial farms the supermarkets do. The video also shows technology that was out of date 30 years ago, yet people were saying how they'd never eat KFC again.

Rule of thumb: google it.

[bluegray V]

Or snipe it with snopes.com