a good friend has several nice blog posts about these deceptions being passed around through the web and these interesting hoax-busting sites that tell the real stories behind such fabrications (check out my friend's blog: http://batongpatay.blogspot.com). i recently received two emails containing such false information. one was about the fashion designer tom hilfiger and the supposedly degrading remarks in oprah winfrey's show about filipinos and other non-caucasian races being unfit to wear hilfiger-made clothes. searching in google, i found out that hilfiger has not appeared at all in oprah. hilfiger's website has published official statements on the matter, citing both winfrey's and the american anti-defamation league's declarations clearing hilfiger of malicious acts.
the second more recent hoax i got tells about this supposed research proving that fellatio and swallowing semen help prevent breast cancer. doubting at the outset both the ethical basis as well as the direction of the "research", i searched google again for related stories. this took me to the breakthechain site (www.breakthechain.org) where i discovered that the story was one of these college pranks that have been going around since 2003. i even searched the john hopkins school of medicine website for the name of the "researcher" (a dr. a.j. kramer). but i didn't find any faculty member or staff with such name.
as my friend observed, the funny thing about all these misinformation is that some people (and good, educated people at that) sometimes do fall for these tricks and become unsuspecting accomplices in disseminating such falsehoods. i don't blame them. but these experiences made me realize how powerful the web has become in shaping people's truths. i've been fond of saying these days that with the internet, i have humanity's knowledge at my fingertips. i never thought before that i would also be having access to all these trash. guess i'll just have to learn to find my way through the rubbish.
the second more recent hoax i got tells about this supposed research proving that fellatio and swallowing semen help prevent breast cancer. doubting at the outset both the ethical basis as well as the direction of the "research", i searched google again for related stories. this took me to the breakthechain site (www.breakthechain.org) where i discovered that the story was one of these college pranks that have been going around since 2003. i even searched the john hopkins school of medicine website for the name of the "researcher" (a dr. a.j. kramer). but i didn't find any faculty member or staff with such name.
as my friend observed, the funny thing about all these misinformation is that some people (and good, educated people at that) sometimes do fall for these tricks and become unsuspecting accomplices in disseminating such falsehoods. i don't blame them. but these experiences made me realize how powerful the web has become in shaping people's truths. i've been fond of saying these days that with the internet, i have humanity's knowledge at my fingertips. i never thought before that i would also be having access to all these trash. guess i'll just have to learn to find my way through the rubbish.
1 comment:
thank you pre, ngayon ko lang narinig yung break the chain, nilagay ko na rin sa links ko
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