On the utility of GOOGLE search and "cybergossip"

You know these Shock ! Horror ! Probe ! emails that do the rounds ?

Well I got one once from a dear friend in French which claimed that in Angleterre ("Honte à l'Angleterre!") the compulsory teaching of the history of the holocaust was to be discontinued - nay, banned...

Now far be it from me to think that l'Angleterre needs my defence. L'Angleterre is, as my wife would say, old enough and ugly enough to sort out its own problems. But still I smelt a rat... After all, I am over 25 now, and I was never taught about the holocaust in school. Maybe people who did A-level history were. I don't know. But even way back in those days it was not compulsory to teach the holocaust in schools in Angleterre.

A quick GOOGLE search revealed that this is one of those emails that does the rounds - started off, I suspect, by out of work vascular surgeons who hope that by raising the blood pressure of the community they can drum up some extra custom. (I have long suspected that the Daily Mail Saturday edition is backed by the same sinister group of evil twisted medics.)

Moral of the story : Don't just click "send" and forward it to everyone you know. GOOGLE it first. Can't GOOGLE ? Can't send either...

After all, this stuff is gossip, isn't it ? It is not a good thing to go about as a gossip, as a tale-bearer.

Comments

Alan said…
Same applies to the heart-rending stories of budgies that need artificial limbs or whatever.

Even if you don't smell a rat - check for rats before you send it on.
Anonymous said…
Also www.snopes.com is very good, it soon put into perspective an American service family I had been praying for!

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