Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Snopes and Drew

I have a friend named Drew who keeps sending out these mass e-mails, propagating all sorts of half-truths and urban legends. I've repeatedly referred him to Snopes.com and truthorfiction.com, but he never bothers to check his facts. In fact, after one time when I suggested using these sites, he said, "Well, why should I believe them? Anyone can say anything on the Internet."

Um, Drew, do you realize how foolish your statement is? You're saying that you don't trust snopes.com and similar sources because they're just sites on the 'net, and yet you're willing to blindly trust all these e-mails that you receive, even though their sources are anonymous and they seldom provide any citations that would attest to their accuracy. Do you not realize the cognitive disconnect that's at play here?