I think I originally chose journalism as a profession because I’m naturally a mistrustful and cynical person.
As a kid, I may have actually asked my mom one winter’s day, “So, what’s in it for Santa? He gives everyone stuff for free? There’s gotta be a catch.” And there was a catch after all… you had to act “good” all year, because, y’know, he sees you when you’re sleeping, and knows when you’re awake. Which, if you think about it, is really kinda creepy that an old fat dude is watching your kids all the time… but I digress.
Fortunately, my cynicism and natural distrust of people has served me well, especially on social media like Facebook. Oh, I remember how many of my Facebook friends and family who re-posted pictures of Microsoft’s Bill Gates with captions saying something about how good ol’ generous Mr. Gates was going to give a wad of cash to anyone who re-posted the photo. And without even thinking to question why a multi-gazillionaire was going to troll through Facebook and award money to people who shared his smiling kisser, oodles of folks just hit that “share” button like a bunch of sheep. Of course, I wasn’t popular when I pointed out it was a hoax.
But sometimes, people share stuff that does seem plausible, however, if they just thought about it a little bit, they’d be as suspicious as I am. Just recently a Facebook friend posted a picture of Pope Francis, with a quote from the pontiff that reads: “It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money – for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in history do not believe in God, while some of the worst deeds were done in His name.”
It’s a wonderful quote, but unfortunately it’s not something the pope actually said. It sounds like something he may have said, being such a cool and progressive spiritual leader (remember when he famously said about gay people, “Who am I to judge?”) but for all his forward thinking, I was immediately suspicious of the head honcho of the Catholic Church supporting atheism so vocally. It’s like the head of AA coming out and saying “Y’know, a fifth of vodka every couple of days isn’t really all that bad.” It just didn’t jibe with me.
So, after seeing the same posting shared for the millionth time on my Facebook feed last week, I did what nobody else seemed to be willing to do… I looked it up. I know, mind-boggling, right? But the same Internet that gives you all those pithy memes and viral videos can be used to debunk all the junk and hoaxes people post. In fact, there’s even a whole website called Snopes.com that’s dedicated to finding out what’s true and false on the ’net. So, in about five seconds (by actually looking up “pope, not necessary believe god” in Google) I was able to reply to my friend’s post that it actually wasn’t an accurate quote at all.
But it will be back, because I’ve seen that Bill Gates one come back around several times over the years. Gullibility knows no bounds, I suppose. This week, for some strange reason, another hoax that was debunked months, if not years ago, has returned to haunt us. All over my feed are friends and family feeling the need to post a made-up legal notice or risk losing copyright control of pictures and other content they’ve shared with their circle of family and friends. According to Snopes, this thing has been circulating since 2009 or earlier. But here it is again, with folks thinking that some legalese they cut and paste to their status will magically make them immune to copyright violations. Suddenly everyone is a lawyer.
When this hoax first came around, it was so bad Facebook actually had to respond, and in part said: “Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms.”
So, there you have it… and I probably come off as a tool again for pointing out people’s gullibility. Now, if only we could do something about people sharing pictures of money that, if re-posted again on Facebook, will magically make riches appear on your doorstep. Sigh… maybe I’ll just give up.
