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f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

October 29, 2004

hoax-o-weenies

Filed under: pre-06-2006 — David Giacalone @ 12:06 pm

vampC  one-breath pundit  


tiny check  Whether they think they’re sending me a trick or a treat, I grow increasingly

weary with folk (many of them beloved friends and relatives) who hit the Forward icon to

send me email that spreads (1) fantastic rumors about the supposed sins of others —

usually with a political motivation, (2) health scares, (3) boycott schemes, or (4) sappy pop-

psychology and feel-good pap (often allegedly written by terror victims or celebrities).



  • yesterday, it was misleading accusations about Starbucks maltreatment of American soldiers

    in Iraq — read the details at snopes.com. [for more on this story see Caliban and TaxLaw Prof]



  • recently it was silly “facts” about Theresa Heinz Kerry’s ownership of foreign

    factories and outsourcing (actually the family trust owns but 4% of the Heinz Company)

Click here to read my plea last May to stop sending me such cyber b.s. (basically, anything that

says “send this to all your friends”).  Today, I want to repeat that it is simply too easy to check

out such rumors — I go first to purporal.com — for responsble people to Forward them without

attempting to verify them.  (See Virtual Chase on internet hoaxes.)










vampCf

 

 

a nuisance–
even mountain cherry blossom
rumors fly

 


 

from Issa, translated by D.G. Lanoue 

 

 



  • p.s.  In the spirit of avoiding rumor-mongering, I will not speculate on the reasons for the settlement today of Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment lawsuit — nor even link to it.  (But, don’t you just hate it when settlement papers are kept secret?)

Hbag n

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