Well before the age of digital communications half-truths and out right falsehoods have been able to spread rapidly. Our current technologies can almost instantaneously transform a fantasy into a fact. There is an abundance of misinformation spread throughout the Internet. By far the largest culprit is the forwarded "chain" email. It's content ranges from true stories that have been inadvertently altered to outright lies and hoaxes.
Most individuals are too rational to believe patently false assertions. Clearly Obama is not secretly a radical Muslim nor is McCain a Manchurian candidate. Regardless, many people are more easily deceived by the information they have received by email because written words(especially when nicely spell checked) appear to add a degree of veracity to the information. Fortunately, there are resources available to help people sort through all the (mis)information they're constantly bombarded with. The following sites are not infallible (somewhat biased in my estimation), but are never the less useful in determining rumors:
www.snopes.com
http://skepdic.com
The next two sites are excellent resources for determining hoaxes:
http://www.hoaxbusters.org
http://www.hoax-slayer.com
Once we have discovered the origins and history of a story it is incumbent upon us as individuals to weigh every aspect of a "true" story, tall tale or hoax. True stories may remain open to interpretation and context. A tall tale or hoax may contain some important aspects of truth within it, or it could simply be an outright mendacity.
The next time you're shocked by an incredulous email, text, or other multimedia message, stop before you blindly forward it. Think about its content for a moment. If you have any doubts make a search to prove whether or not it has any validity. Once you have more information about the story you can then make an informed and intelligent decision about its total authenticity. If it's true then you can be confident in passing the story along. If it's false or a misrepresentation of facts you'll have the ammunition to set the record straight.
Ks3(Keep safe, smart, strong),
JD Blackstar
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