I wake up every morning with a handful of messages in my inbox from my 90 year old grandfather. He’s a great man. He’s a World War II veteran, a self taught, intelligent and thought provoking man. And yet, every morning, I can count on a least a few chain emails from him proclaiming that “I must read this now and forward to everyone I know!” And, “The mainstream media won’t tell you this!” “President Obama wants to tax your emails!” Then, I guess grandpa better stop sending them to me.
It’s unfathomable to me that people, including intelligent ones like my grandfather, fall prey to these mass emails. The claims they make are so unbelievable, I find it hard to actually believe that other people think they spout the truth. For most of the chain emails, all you really have to do is think about what you’re reading and you’ll quickly realize that it can’t possibly be accurate. Furthermore, all it takes is a quick search to confirm your suspicions that what you’re reading is crazy talk! All it takes is a little effort on your part to do your own research.
Politifact, an excellent resource for independent research, looked at 145 chain emails. 6 were determined to be absolutely true. 6. I’ll allow you a moment to let that sink in. This is misinformation at its finest. And, unfortunately, people believe it. Check out all 145 for yourself and see how many you’ve received and believed.
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