滨听think I originally chose journalism as a profession because I鈥檓 naturally a mistrustful and cynical person.聽
As a kid, I may have actually asked my mom one winter鈥檚 day, 鈥淪o, what鈥檚 in it for Santa? He gives everyone stuff for free? There鈥檚 gotta be a catch.鈥� And there was a catch after all鈥� you had to act 鈥済ood鈥� all year, because, y鈥檏now, he sees you when you鈥檙e sleeping, and knows when you鈥檙e awake. Which, if you think about it, is really kinda creepy that an old fat dude is watching your kids all the time鈥� but I digress.聽
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鈥檚 Bill Gates with captions saying something about how good ol鈥� 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 鈥渟hare鈥� button like a bunch of sheep. Of course, I wasn鈥檛 popular when I pointed out it was a hoax.聽
But sometimes, people share stuff that does seem plausible, however, if they just thought about it a little bit, they鈥檇 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: 鈥淚t 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 In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated.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 鈥� 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.鈥澛�
It鈥檚 a wonderful quote, but unfortunately it鈥檚 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, 鈥淲ho am I to judge?鈥�) but for all his forward thinking, I was immediately suspicious of the head honcho of the Catholic Church supporting atheism so vocally. It鈥檚 like the head of AA coming out and saying 鈥淵鈥檏now, a fifth of vodka every couple of days isn鈥檛 really all that bad.鈥� It just didn鈥檛 jibe with me.聽
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鈥� 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鈥檚 even a whole website called Snopes.com that鈥檚 dedicated to finding out what鈥檚 true and false on the 鈥檔et. So, in about five seconds (by actually looking up 鈥減ope, not necessary believe god鈥� in Google) I was able to reply to my friend鈥檚 post that it actually wasn鈥檛 an accurate quote at all.聽
But it will be back, because I鈥檝e 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鈥檝e 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.聽
When this hoax first came around, it was so bad Facebook actually had to respond, and in part said: 鈥淎nyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms.鈥澛�
So, there you have it鈥� and I probably come off as a tool again for pointing out people鈥檚 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鈥� maybe I鈥檒l just give up.
