Ever seen a message like, "God said I should tell you he has seen you struggling...blah blah blah, SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST OR YOU WILL BE CURSED FOR 13 YEARS". Messages like that play on human emotions, doubt, and the fear of the unknown and were simply written to deceive or defraud. Consciously or unconsciously someone would send this out and a hoax viral begins. People would believe, without an idea if it was true or not. Not to mention where it originated.
There are lots of hoaxes, Corpus Christi about a 'Gay Jesus' movie; Water left in a plastic bottle in a car could cause cancer; Typing your ATM PIN backwards alerts the police; a male whale producing 400 gallons of sperm; Jackie Chan is dead; Will Smith is dead; Lady Gaga is an hermaphrodite... the list is cumulative. It baffles me when I receive such messages from people I thought were intellectuals or would at least google the claim before forwarding it. When faulted, they claim there was nothing to lose by believing the message but that was untrue.
Imagine a message "advising", saying if an individual was alone and about to experience a heart attack he should perform a cough CPR by coughing repeatedly. They claim the coughs would prevent the attack and that claim has no medical backing *dangerous*. Even those hoaxes about "forwarding messages and a person's problem would disappear after receiving a phone call in 15 minutes" is dangerous because it plays on the most important weapon man has, Faith.
I have included websites you could check out and read about the origin of these hoaxes and you would be surprised when you realise some you had believed and obviously laugh at your ignorance... then. And by the way, "I WAS ASKED TO TELL YOU TO CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK ICON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST AND SHARE IT ON YOUR WALL. IF YOU DO ALL THE HATERS ON YOUR FRIENDS LIST WOULD REVEAL THEMSELVES, IF NOT YOU WILL DIE IN 2 MINUTES."
www.hoaxbusters.org
www.hoax-slayer.com
www.urbanlegends.about.com
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