You all have received those forwarded emails from family, friends or co-workers. You know the ones that tell you about how Obama is a Muslim, or immigration is responsible for everything bad, or some iffy gas saving claim. You look at it and assume it's true and forward it along to your friends. It is astonishing how dangerous this can be. It seems weird that a simple forward of an email could have drastic consequences, but in many cases it does. The spread of false information over the internet is nothing new and will never go away. But you don't have to be fooled or participate in the spread. Spreading false information especially about politics and policy and laws are dangerous because they skew the truth and the facts. Elements that in these cases are very important for people to make an intelligent decision on something that affects all of us. Like our laws and elected officials.
Rule of thumb is most everything you get through an email will be false. But if you still are not sure there is a great site called Snopes.com they have a factual answer for most every rumor urban legend and weird email you might get. So next time check it with this site and then what i do is i reply back with the correct information and let that person know that they are spreading false info and to check their sources first.
Another great site keeping politicians honest is FactCheck.org , don't take the email or your friends or the politician themselves word for it. Check their validity at FactCheck. There will always be people spreading false information, as long as there is a cause for them to do so. We however do not have to play along. Take control of the information you get and pass on and check your sources. We all benefit in the long run.
0 comments:
Post a Comment