To wonder why people repeat myths on the internet without checking

[hackmum]

Someone on Facebook has just posted a link to the story about Zouheir, the "Muslim" who supposedly confronted a suicide bomber outside the Stade de France last week.

Except it's not true, as this BBC story explains:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-34845882

It takes a matter of seconds to check something like this. Yet the Muslim Council of Britain repeated the story in its advert condemning the attacks.

Obviously it's not just this story - it happens all the time. Another friend just posted something purporting to be a speech to schoolchildren by Bill Gates, except it isn't. But I don't get why. It's so easy to check stuff now - just a few seconds of googling.

So why do otherwise intelligent people (and both the people I've just cited are highly educated) not check? Why don't they learn from experience? Is it that they're just not that bothered whether something is true or not?

Can anyone enlighten me?

I've had to google dihydrogen monoxide

Poor little Johnnie boy for Johnnie is no more
as what he thought was H2O was H2SO4

as my grandfather used to say

I just googled dihydrogen monoxide too. Smartarse but very funny

What's worrying about the 112 one is that it's people who really should know better spreading this crap. Someone said upthread they were told it by their St John's Ambulance 1st aid trainer, as was I.

I had a weird experience a few years ago. A friend swore blind this random incident happened to him (it involved being sick on another person in a nightclub bathroom) and a year or so later I read the exact same story being told as an anecdote between two characters in a book. Book was published the same year the incident allegedly happens but friend still swears blind it actually occurred. I've googled repeatedly, tried snopes etc. but haven't found a version of it debunked yet. I was even tempted to message the author to find out where she got it from!

Anyone heard the one about a girl kissing a stranger in Amsterdam and then getting a mysterious face rash...?

Well thank you for the information about 999 calls from mobiles.
Very interesting. I had no idea that it was the case.

The one I've had to debunk most often recently is the picture of a CCTV camera outside George Orwell's house, usually with a caption about how deliciously ironic it is.

Yes, it is - that's because it is an artistic fake, part of series of photoshopped pictures of artists' and writers' houses: Restyles of the Dead and Famous.

It has been doing the rounds of my Facebook and twitter feeds for a couple of years now.

I've been told the 999/112 thing in first aid training too, and my daughter came home from school and told me about ringing 112 as well.
Another one is if you have a heart attack and you are alone to cough. It will save your life not

Silver: if the incident was very unusual in some way, then the likely explanation is that the author and your friend are both describing the same one! Either the novelist was present at the time or has been told the story by someone who was. Ockham's razor.

On the other hand, if it was the sort of awkward puking-on-someone event that most of us have experienced (haven't we??) there's simply nothing to see :)

That Steve Ullathorne series is really charming, exex. Thank you!

I fell for that Orwell one when it first started doing the rounds . Confirmation bias and all that.... Was so annoyed, as I am usually the first to check Snopes.

Handily though, if anyone you know does post this stuff, and you didn't already know they were thick as pig shit, at least they've signalled it in no uncertain terms.....I used to work with the sort of mouth breathers who post this sort of stuff....every day was a revelation in how dense some people really are.

Silvermantela, if this incident involved 2 people, and one of them was your friend, the other person would have been the writer!

Well, this is all very well, but I do think you should share this with any men in your lives. It may help them one day.:

WARNING! New scam at Tesco's!!!
I don't how many of you shop at Tesco, but this may be useful to know.

I am posting this to you to warn you of something that happened to me, as I have become a victim of a clever scam while out shopping.

This happened to me at Tesco in Becton and it could happen to you.

Here's how the scam works:

Two seriously good-looking 18-year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping in the boot. They both start wiping your windscreen with a rag and Windolene, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy t-shirts.

It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a ride to another Tesco.

You agree and they get in the back seat. On the way, they start having sex with each other. Then one of them climbs over into the
front seat and performs oral sex on you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen last Tuesday, Wednesday, twice on Thursday, again on Saturday, and also yesterday.

BE WARNED!

I was told the 112 thing on a first aid course too - he said it traced the call to where the phone was located, is this not true then?

No.

112 has been in use for ages, I remember putting it in a health and safety policy in the late 1990s.

The only thing 112 does is get you through to the local emergency services in any EU country. Rather than all the countries changing their numbers (can you imagine the uproar if we lost 999 and the same in other countries with their numbers) the EU added 112.

So in Britain 112 is just like phoning a second line to 999.

There is a picture of a 41lb rat making its rounds at the moment. Despite snopes debunking it, my husband swears its true as the BBC showed a larger than average rat found some where in Britain

The one I remember from being a teenager was the lady who goes to see some strippers, and the stripper's thong hits her in the eye. The next week her eye is really itchy and she goes to the doctors who tells her she has pubic lice in her eye.

I'm sure this one isn't true!

susielovessocks Another one is if you have a heart attack and you are alone to cough. It will save your life

I received that one, and after reading this thread I looked it up as I was unsure. It appears (according to Snopes) to have an element of truth.

www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/coughcpr.asp