My New Year's resolution, made out of anger and irritation at people being angry and irritated with me, was to stop commenting on posts on Facebook that are egregiously factually inaccurate and/or sensationalist with a link to Snopes or any other similar debunking site proving it ridiculous and incorrect. It's proving harder than I thought. I love all my friends, but I am disheartened by how many of them display gullibility and lack of common sense on Facebook sometimes.
Every year, the same rumor about AAA's Tipsy Tow service goes around -- that it is a nationwide free service that will tow your car and your drunk ass home on New Year's Eve and select other holidays. It is, in fact, very selectively regional, and not available anywhere in New York or New England, where the majority of the people I see spreading the falsehood live.
Nobody is leaving fake $100 bills on windshields to carjack the drivers when they attempt to retrieve them... or at least, they weren't, but now that you've given them the idea they might! Except that that's been going around since 2004, so someone probably would have tried it by now if they were going to.
The food ones anger me even more, because they set off a panic when taken seriously. Here's the deal with onions. Biologists say it's highly implausible that onions could attract flu virus as a bug zapper traps flies. Viruses require a living host to replicate and can't propel themselves out of a body and across a room. Also, the organosulphur compounds in them scavenge oxidizing agents, inhibit the oxidation of fatty acids, thereby preventing the formation of pro-inflammatory messengers, and inhibit bacterial growth via interaction with sulphur-containing enzymes. Which also means that they're also not poisonous when you cut them and leave them in the fridge, or on the counter.
That banana baby food recall was Nestle, and it was only in France. It is not Gerber, and it is no longer applicable, and never was in the United States. Yes, baby carrots are treated with bleach, but they are rinsed thoroughly with potable water afterwards and are perfectly safe to eat. The only real thing special about them is that they're sweeter than regular carrots, due to being selectively bred for natural sugar content to appeal to children.
Wish me luck. This resolution is probably the toughest I've ever made.
Holy crap - I'm in the same predicament. Only with me, I've been called an asshole when I post Snopes or other links on people's walls. Alas, THIS is going on my wall.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should read this. It gets pretty tiring reading things that people repost without checking to see if if there is any truth to it. I myself have done that but I'm trying my damest not to do it again.
ReplyDeleteI haven't taken any flack from my friends for posting links to the truth, but I am getting really tired of doing it. I, too, am dismayed by all the junk people spread. It is so easy to check it out before passing it on.
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