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Online Sensationalism
Jul. 17th, 2014 09:46 pmOne of the things I really hate about Facebook is the constant barrage of misinformation thrown out there, accepted as fact. Because there is nothing preventing people putting lies out there, I think some people buy into something online, especially if it feeds into their own suspicions.
Personally, I tend to look for facts. When I see something outlandish and see everyone just raving about it, I do a search online, especially on Snopes, to see how true it is. The problem is that some folks don't like to be told something is fake, especially if they like the lie itself.
Case in point. Last night, someone posted a link about Dasani bottle water having "4 Ingredients: Tap Water, Known Teratogen, Lethal Drug, and Salt." The guy who posted it said that he liked that it confirmed that it tasted funny as others had always disagreed. The web link is from a "progressive" website about health, etc. It even gave a link to FDA about one of the ingredients, talking about birth defects of one of the ingredients, to support their arguments.
Because of my work (and my common sense), I knew it was complete bull$#!+. It blows things out of proportion about these trace amounts of certain salts, listing the dangers if you consumed highly concentrated quantities of them as though the parts-per-million amounts in the water would do the same. So, I posted this information, trying to explain that Dasani water is not dangerous, why they put those trace amounts in (for the taste really), and how the water is purified. It was pretty much ignored by the poster and his friends, most of whom thanked him for posting this information.
Author Terry Goodkind, who wrote "Wizard's First Rule," explained it best. Wizard's first rule is "People are Stupid."
By the way, did you know that water is dangerous? It's true, a woman drank water during a radio contest and died. I'll post that on FB tomorrow and see if these same people give up water.
Personally, I tend to look for facts. When I see something outlandish and see everyone just raving about it, I do a search online, especially on Snopes, to see how true it is. The problem is that some folks don't like to be told something is fake, especially if they like the lie itself.
Case in point. Last night, someone posted a link about Dasani bottle water having "4 Ingredients: Tap Water, Known Teratogen, Lethal Drug, and Salt." The guy who posted it said that he liked that it confirmed that it tasted funny as others had always disagreed. The web link is from a "progressive" website about health, etc. It even gave a link to FDA about one of the ingredients, talking about birth defects of one of the ingredients, to support their arguments.
Because of my work (and my common sense), I knew it was complete bull$#!+. It blows things out of proportion about these trace amounts of certain salts, listing the dangers if you consumed highly concentrated quantities of them as though the parts-per-million amounts in the water would do the same. So, I posted this information, trying to explain that Dasani water is not dangerous, why they put those trace amounts in (for the taste really), and how the water is purified. It was pretty much ignored by the poster and his friends, most of whom thanked him for posting this information.
Author Terry Goodkind, who wrote "Wizard's First Rule," explained it best. Wizard's first rule is "People are Stupid."
By the way, did you know that water is dangerous? It's true, a woman drank water during a radio contest and died. I'll post that on FB tomorrow and see if these same people give up water.
