Kurgan Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 You've gotta love 'em. I learned a lot in my first few years of college (fast cheap internet will do that) about all the things I'd heard that were wrong or not quite true. Some great sources for info on commonly believed myths (and here I use myth not in the anthropological sense I normally use but rather in the popular usage as "something people think that just ain't so"): http://www.snopes.com http://urbanlegends.about.com http://www.straightdope.com I was just reading one in there the other day about rice at weddings. Did you know many people believe that you shouldn't throw uncooked rice at weddings (as is common practice in America at least) because birds will eat the rice and explode? Actually, the real danger of using rice is that the bride and groom may slip and fall on a bed of rice and get hurt (and quite embarrassed on their special day). No evidence seems available of any exploding fowl. Note: While this may not sound so serious, I think it IS a serious issue, especially on the internet, because so much misinformation travels so fast and so far. For example, the FBI is still after the people promoting that scam about the African Exile from Nigeria who just "needs your bank info to deposit his gold" or whatever it was (which I have recieved at least three times, one of my college professors even discussed it with me as he recieved one while we were talking by his computer). Other things related to computer viruses or political issues (like stuff a politican did or did not say, or relating to laws being proposed) or medical/health stuff (this can be quite serious as well!). Another myth is that we humans only use "10% of our brains." Obviously false, but a lot of people still take it for granted that it's true. So what do you think? What are some of the ones you've heard? How do you convince people they aren't true? I usually point them to those sites. Do they come up in offline conversations a lot? What makes people so gullible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagobahn Eagle Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Did you know many people believe that you shouldn't throw uncooked rice at weddings (as is common practice in America at least) because birds will eat the rice and explode? They do that in Scandinavia too. A lot of what makes people gullible is that they want to believe. Simple as that. Then it depends on who says it. Believe me, you can believe a huge deal if it's said by a close friend of yours who thinks he's telling the truth and reporting facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted August 19, 2003 Author Share Posted August 19, 2003 Yeah, it seems a lot of people see the thing in their inbox and they don't check to see if it might be a hoax. They just forward it on, with good intentions "just in case." I think its because a lot of people who are new to the internet (hey, I was one of them years and years ago) don't realize that it's just like any other medium: tv, radio, newspaper, magazines, whatever. You can't believe everything you read/see/hear. The biggest joke of course is that they usually say that "this really happened to a friend of a friend..." "The husband of my cousin's coworker at the bank knows somebody who..." It's like that line from Spaceballs... "what does that make us? Absolutely nothing!" But seriously, I've had friends and family probably scratching their heads wondering why my responses were so hostile after they sent me a forwarded message. In recent years I've tried to be more diplomatic and understanding, as many of these people probably don't know better.. they have to be trained to be more critical and research this stuff more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinWalker Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 I, too, get these a lot. I nearly always reply to the sender (sometimes my own wife!) with a link to one of the above sites and a snippet pasted in that shows why it's a hoax. I've a friend in Minnisota who sends them to me after she gets them all the time with the question, "is this for real." I do a quick google search and find the answer. Honestly, she's an environmental scientist who survived calculus at University.... you'd think she could figure these out! Still, I usually get positive replys from those I send a rebuttal to.... I think letting people know its a hoax is important. People usually say, "thanks, I'll forward this on," etc. If its one of those hoaxes that tells people they must delete a particular file that has a strange filename, I usually click "Reply to All" just so people aren't deleting some obscure windows .dll. I'll have to look through my emails and see what hoaxes I've received lately, but one I remember was the Tampax warning. There was actually some truth to it, but the hype was definately out of line. I get the Nigerian/Ugandan scam at least once a day if not multiple times a day... I delete it without even a glance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldritch Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 The Legend of the Rocket Car will live forever in my mind as the greatest of all. The guy who wrote that story really did it up proper - it's an entertaining read, even if it's a bit long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunClown Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Yeah, it seems a lot of people see the thing in their inbox and they don't check to see if it might be a hoax. You mean to say I really don't need bigger breasts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubatus Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Originally posted by FunClown You mean to say I really don't need bigger breasts? This is not the Swamp, Funclown; don't get me wrong, jokes are more than welcome here as a referral to something written above, but if they're to be allowed to float in the Senate please continue on to debate about the matter at hand - in the same post, naturally. As for urban legends, I regard them as prizewinners within the realm of rumourmongering, more often harmless than not. They are stories that are sufficiently plausible to be taken for truth. And that plausibility is of course only helped along if you're being told such a story from a friend swearing it to be true; urban legends are the rumours that survive long enough and spread far enough to reach this state. But they're not immortal, and some live not for as long or as grandiosely as others, and others still reach a new level by living on (in slightly more than memory) even after they've been refuted. But then again, some urban legends are never refuted and purged 100% - a small echo of doubt still whispers to some people "...it might be true still...it just might...". I think one of the greatest classics in this class must be the alligators in the sewers. Besides, a classic way to try to save the life of an urban legend in its dying throes is blaming the company, city officials or the government for covering it all up. What makes people so gullible, Kurgan asks. Well, as I said an urban legend survives on its plausibility, and I think we all know that sometimes the truth can be stranger than fiction. And as said by others, the way an urban legend is presented also has an influence on its success - most of us are loathe to just outright deny a story told by a friend. There is an art to constructing urban legends - it's a balance to be maintained between making them plausible enough and not quite common enough. A good urban legend has to be about something continuing, not a single event, or at least a string of events that might reoccur (like an old house where a mad herringmurderer stalked teenagers 30 years back) - simply put, it has to be something that could happen to you in the right place under the right circumstances. The essence of an urban legend need not be something spooky, though. It can be something absurd, something laughable, or something sexual (great crowdpleasers ) Personally, I like to think of urban legends, good ones mind you, as a spice to life to just make it all a bit more bearable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted August 24, 2003 Author Share Posted August 24, 2003 I will say that at least the urban legends and viagra ads are sometimes entertaining to read in their absurdity... with all this "sobig" virus crap, I almost miss the weekly hoaxes and tall tales.... In line with that last statement, some urban legends can be helpful. For example, I remember hearing as a kid that "you shouldn't hang your head/arms out the window, because it could get chopped off!" And though I hadn't heard any when I was growing up, the urban legend part starts to grow in that there were all these kids that didn't listen, and had their heads sliced off by telephone poles or other obstructions. According to the research of course, a few people have died from having their heads smack into poles, but nobody was "decapitated." Still, the graphicness of the tale helped us kids (by scaring us) into practicing a little more safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagobahn Eagle Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 In line with that last statement, some urban legends can be helpful. For example, I remember hearing as a kid that "you shouldn't hang your head/arms out the window, because it could get chopped off!" Maybe a head won't get chopped off, but let's say a train enters a tunnel and the head that hangs out of the window hits the rock/concrete tunnel wall at 60km/h. Maybe it won't get chopped off, but you will get killed. Happened to this English tourist once, and yes, that was on the news. Would a telephone pole rip your head off? Think the clearing between them and the car is so big that it'll be about impossible to hit them. A sign post? Doubt it, too high up. A tunnel wall? Well, the clearing is like 10-15 cm in some cases... uh.. don't try to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted August 28, 2003 Author Share Posted August 28, 2003 don't try to find out. Exactly! Heh, I just heard another Urban Legend today, here it is: Quran ( 9:11) -- For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace. Needless to say, utter nonesense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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