Linda Ferrara

SLM521

Spring 2005

Urban Legends, Hoaxes, and Myths

Yikes! When I think of how many common urban legends, hoaxes, and/or myths that I have encountered I am a little amazed, a little tickled, a little horrified, and I feel a little lazy! After all, I have not only opened many emails with chain letters or hoaxes, and even passed them on without giving them much thought. I read my emails frequently and I get a lot of emails! I especially relish my email communications of friends from afar. Well, those chatty missives that we use to keep our chain of friendships going very often contain the very hoaxes and/or chain mail of which we speak! Mostly, it is my female friends who are passing on this detritus! I must admit sympathy hoaxes, worthy causes, promises of good luck, being part of a group action, etc. are what really reel me in! The Avon breast cancer crusade with the adorable bears, deodarant/cancer link, dying children, Irish wisdom, lint cleaners in dryers cause fire, plug-in air fresheners…got to save the world or at least, my friends! Well, they say there's a sucker born every minute and someone has figured out how to reach every one of us!

I realize that the problem with all of my involvement is not just what it says about me (oh boy!), but also how these hoaxes, etc. impact everyone else. The accessibility of email addresses to spam mailers, the clogging of the Internet, slowdown of mail servers are all issues important to all of us who spend so much time on the internet. What is the point of reporting and blocking spam if we help to generate more of it? How inconvenient and inefficient does communication become if we unthinkingly support that which causes the interruptions of service?

Learning about sites such as hoaxbusters.ciac.org and cdc.gov or snopes.com is a real eye-opener. Now that I have thought about this more, I will check them out if I even get as far as reading something questionable. One of my more embarrassing moments on the Internet was when I forwarded a medical hoax/sympathy chain letter to a physician friend of mine who immediately replied to set me straight on how gullible I was! These sites would have saved me. I will be more careful curiously opening mail that I know is a forwarded mass mail with a chain letter or hoax. I won't forward and/or unthinkingly open image attachments.

As for students, my intermediate grade students are not usually privy to email without supervision. But, no doubt, they will be before long, so warnings about these types of stories and mail would be a responsible practice on the part of middle or high schools. Letting kids know that “if it sounds to good to be true….”, the warning signs (plausibility, narrative, cautionary, credibility by association, technical language, etc.), the resources they can use (websites, parents, teachers, etc.), and the reasons NOT to fall prey to hoaxes are imperative. One of my favorite tips that I learned from the article, “Hoax Mail - Is the Joke on Us?” from www.pcmag.com, is to Google a key phrase from the email and if several resources are found, then most likely it is a hoax. We teach students to use Google. This is one more good use of it!

Now, did I tell you about the twins in public school, Orangejello and Lemonjello?!!!