New York Magazine reports that researchers at Columbia University have created a website that tracks Internet rumors. It’s called Emergent. The well-known Snopes site has been doing something similar for almost 20 years, but Emergent aims to provide more statistical information, showing how many times a rumor has been referenced online, and who has been spreading or debunking it. It also categorizes some rumors as neither true nor false, but “unverified”.
The only rumor I could find that both Emergent and Snopes deal with at the moment is the one about the Florida woman who had surgery to add a third breast. Snopes goes into great detail and concludes that the rumor is false. Emergent agrees that the rumor is false (even referencing Snopes), but doesn’t offer evidence. It merely links to sites that have reported the rumor or debunked it. Emergent, however, has nice graphics showing how the rumor has been trending and which references to the rumor have been shared the most.Â
The New York Magazine article points out that rumors often spread because they confirm people’s pre-existing notions, while there is usually much less motivation to deny them. So sites like Emergent and Snopes are probably fighting a losing battle.
Nevertheless, the more truth there is on the Internet, the better. And having done my own very, very small part in spreading an occasional rumor, I will try to remember to check Snopes and Emergent before passing along juicy news that confirms my own cherished beliefs (unless it’s a really, really good one that just has to be true).
There have probably been a billion words written on how most of us are now carrying a little camera with us everywhere and how that’s changing our lives for better or worse.Â
But think of all the events that could have been photographed if everyone had a cellphone in decades past. We’d have more pictures of UFOs (but not flying saucers). We’d have more photographs of the Kennedy assassination and more views of Marilyn Monroe on that subway grate. From certain decades, we’d have many more pictures of people looking at themselves in their bathroom mirrors.
There was a story in the news today about an actress being handcuffed in Southern California after she apparently refused to identify herself to police officers. She wasn’t doing anything illegal at the time and wasn’t arrested. There are photographs of her in tears standing next to a cop, but not of what happened earlier. We’ll probably have to wait a while before it’s common to film every moment of every event that seems like it might be worth filming.
Anyway, I was walking into the grocery story this evening and stopped to take a picture with my phone. Future historians can study it if they want:
New witnesses to the apparent execution of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, have come forward. CNN has cellphone video of them watching what happened and, oh yeah, they’re two white contractors from out of town. Isn’t it funny how that “white” part makes a big difference (to us white people)? The video and the description of events offered by these witnesses is strong evidence that Michael Brown was indeed executed that afternoon.
Last year, a company called Public Policy Polling asked 1,247 registered voters in the United States their opinions regarding what the company called “conspiracy theories” (although some of the questions, such as “Do you believe aliens exist, or not?” don’t necessarily refer to conspiracies). Here are some of the more interesting questions and answers, beginning with the least popular “theories”. The poll, which is described here, had a margin of error of 2.8%.
1)Â Do you believe that shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies, or not?
11% of the respondents said Yes or weren’t sure (happily, that means 89% said No).
2)Â Do you believe that the exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons, or not?
13% said Yes or weren’t sure (not surprisingly, 87% said No).
3) Do you believe the moon landing was faked, or not?
16% said Yes or weren’t sure.
4)Â Do you believe Paul McCartney actually died in a car crash in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a lookalike so the Beatles could continue, or not?
19% said Yes or weren’t sure.
5)Â Do you believe the United States government knowingly allowed the attacks on September 11th, 2001, to happen, or not?
22% Yes or weren’t sure.
6)Â Do you believe media or the government adds secret mind-controlling technology to television broadcast signals, or not?
30% Yes or weren’t sure.
7) Do you believe global warming is a hoax, or not?
49% Yes or weren’t sure.
8) Do you believe a UFO crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, and the US government covered it up, or not?
53% Yes or weren’t sure (21% said Yes).
9) Do you believe that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order, or not?
53% Yes or weren’t sure (but 28% said Yes).
10) Â Do you believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, or not?
54% Yes or weren’t sure (20% said Yes).
11) Do you believe the Bush administration intentionally misled the public about the possibility of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to promote the Iraq War, or not?
56% Yes or weren’t sure (44% said Yes).
12)Â Do you believe that there was a conspiracy (whether or not it included Lee Harvey Oswald)Â behind the assassination of President Kennedy?
75% Yes or weren’t sure (although I rephrased the question to make it consistent with the others).
One might conclude from some of these results that an uncomfortably large percentage of the American electorate is absolutely nuts. However, we should keep in mind what David Hume said about miracles. If someone claims to have seen a miracle, it’s much more likely that he or she is lying or confused than that a miracle actually occurred. Likewise, if roughly 10% of voters are open to the possibility that shape-shifting reptiles walk among us or that those vapor trails up in the sky are a government plot, we should conclude that many who gave those answers were either confused about the question or messing with the pollsters.
On the other hand, if shape-shifting reptiles do control many of the world’s governments, that would explain a lot. And I for one say “Welcome to our reptilian overlords!”.
(Note: that’s supposed to be a giant insect in the picture behind Kent Brockman, but somebody decided to add a guy’s face.)
A couple of these poll results are more troubling. Half of us think that global warming is a hoax or are open to that possibility, and a similar percentage think that vaccines do or may cause autism. It’s understandable why some might think that the experts are mistaken about global warming, but to believe that thousands of scientists are or could be conspiring to mislead the rest of us is incredibly dumb and also likely to impede efforts to address the problem. Similarly, one might wonder if there is a possible link between vaccines and autism, but to take that idea seriously enough to ignore the medical consensus and not vaccinate one’s children is both foolish and dangerous.
There’s a natural tendency to be skeptical about whatever the official story is. None of us want to be taken in by the powers that be. Governments, corporations and supposed experts lie more than they should and conspiracies do sometimes occur. There’s also nothing wrong with keeping an open mind on controversial topics when there is evidence on both sides.
So I’m comfortable being with the skeptical majority who think people in the Bush administration lied about those weapons of mass destruction or at least decided it wasn’t worth knowing the truth. I’m also comfortable saying that Lee Harvey Oswald may have participated in a conspiracy or been used by one. I think he acted alone but wouldn’t be surprised either way (unless Vice President Johnson had something to do with it – that would be a big surprise). The good news is that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld can’t do much damage anymore and anyone who was involved in the Kennedy assassination is probably gone or will be soon.
A probably unrelated note: Having been on the Central Coast of California for the past week or so, I can report that the state has not completely dried out. In fact, casual observation revealed very little evidence of the major drought they’re having. Shops in one small town were directing everyone to some new portable toilets on the main street, and the outdoor showers at one of the beaches were turned off. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the drought is a hoax being carried out by conspiring reptilian shape-shifters, but you never know.
Whereof One Can Speak 🇺🇦 
You must be logged in to post a comment.