Imagine my husband coming into the house. He steps into the kitchen, and there I am at the computer weeping uncontrollably.
“What happened?” asks spouse as he rushes to me.
Between sobs and catching my breath, I try to answer. It takes a full minute before I speak at all, but finally I manage. “Henrietta just told me about a boy who had to throw a brick through a Jaguar window.”
“Someone threw a brick at Henrietta’s car? Wait a minute, Henrietta drives an old Geo Metro. What was she doing in a Jaguar?”
“Not Henrietta’s Jaguar, just some Jaguar. You’re not listening to the story. The boy was on the side of the road and his little brother was in a wheel chair and he fell out. But no one would stop to help, not one person.”
“Why didn’t Henrietta help him?”
“Henrietta wasn’t there. But anyway, the boy had to throw a brick at the car just to get help.”
“Hmmm. So were these boys friends of Henriettas?”
“She doesn’t know the boys.”
“Oh I get it then. She knew the Jaguar driver.”
“She doesn’t know him either.”
Husband backs away now. He removes his arm from around my trembling shoulders. His interest wanes and he rummages in the refrigerator. Husband pulls out brick of cheese and slices off several pieces. “So, where did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” I say, gaining control now, starting to feel stupid.”
“So now who told Henrietta?”
“People.”
“What people? News people?”
“No, not news people—just people. They forwarded to her. And she forwarded it to me. I’m not sure it really happened. It’s just a story.”
“Oh,” he says as he sticks the cheese in his mouth.
“You have to read it. It’s the best story,” I say as I push the forward button to all my list.”
This was a fairly harmless modern folklore to illustrate a typical forwarded email story. However, many stories circulating the Internet aren’t quite as harmless. Many stories include sentimental stories that end with something like, forward this to all the women you know, or everyone who you care about, or who has touched your life in some way. Nice you think, so you press send. Some emails seem nice, but then they end with a little caveat that says if you don’t pass it on to at least seven people within seven days you will have terrible luck. I’ve even gotten one that said if I didn’t pass the email on, I would never have sex again. Common sense should tell you that it isn’t nice to pass these emails on to anyone you do care about, but I have gotten these kinds of forwards. On the opposite end are the ones promising unimagined blessings if we pass it on to everyone we know. Hmmm. Again, think about it. Neither could be true. Resist the urge to pass the email on.
For years I’ve been getting emails about missing children. Most of these are a hoax, and are actually harming the effort to find the legitimate missing or kidnapped children. Before hitting the forward button on these, take a few seconds and go to www.Snopes.com. Snopes checks out all kinds of rumors, and chances are if the missing child is a hoax it will declare it as such. Another popular type of email is the one that is meant to warn people of danger, or good safety tips. This email may start out with an alarming and shocking story. Again, before hitting send, take a minute and check it out. There are legitimate safety precautions, but don’t burden your friends with unneeded worry about something that isn’t true. Here is an example of a popular chilling urban legend. This was number nine of ten safety tips for women. Checking these tips out on Snopes, told me that some of the tips were useful, while others were actually bad advice. None of us want to pass on safety tips which actually increase danger.
9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her “Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.”
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, “We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.” He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby’s cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.
Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby — This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America’s Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana. I’d like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may want to pass it onto them, as well.
Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Here was Snopes answer for this part of the email:
A more lengthy debunking of the “crying baby” lure can be found on our page devoted to that hoax, but in a nutshell: no serial killer used that ruse, and the story about helpful policemen who instructed the woman who heard such cries to stay inside and not open her door is fiction. The “audio tape of a baby’s cries used by a murderer to draw women from their homes” fabrication was born of the anxiety surrounding the hunt for the Baton Rouge serial killer in 2002. That case was profiled on America’s Most Wanted in September 2002 and again in January 2003, but neither airing made any mention of the purported “crying baby” theory.
The rest of the Snopes details each of the ten tips and offers better advice on avoiding being a victim.
Another Internet story where caution should be used before forwarding on are those potentially offensive or character impugning ones. These kind are harder for some people to detect. Often the sender feels strongly they are just passing on something that all good moral patriotic folks would enjoy reading: Wrong. Being in the political minority in Utah, these are the ones I get the most which I feel cross the line in appropriateness. With immigration such a hot button issue, some of these are racist in content, others border on slander, while others are meant to be funny, but are probably only funny to those in the same mindset. Often the sender just sends to everyone on their list, perhaps not realizing that a few on that list will find the email offensive. If you must forward these, take the time to cull your list and send it only to those who will truly appreciate it.
With such an interesting presidential race, some emails impugn character. Often the forwarded email contains a partial truth, hyped information, or something out of context. Most people feel passionate about politics and learning as much as they can about a candidate before they vote. Gleaning that information from forwarded emails is not an effective way to find information. Check our facts. Check Snopes.com. They will research for you. If it’s too good not to pass on, then it still will be too good after you’ve asked yourself a few questions before pressing send.
