A couple of weeks ago on Facebook a ‘friend’ of mine showed a photo of a huge mountain lion, with the statement attached that it had been killed in Pennsylvania. I checked “Snopes” to learn the value of the information as it seemed questionable to me.
I read on Facebook today that a helicopter crash in Afghanistan had taken 31 lives yesterday. Somehow that seemed impossible in that I read the news several times a day on various news websites. Ordinarily I will scan CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, the BBC, and occasionally some others some time during a day. Today was no exception. I wondered how the loss of 31 lives had not come to my attention so I rechecked all of the above news sources and none carried any information on such an event.
Knowing the propensity for Facebook users to believe anything they read, and then repeat it, I Googled “crash, 31 dead,” and the result was to recall the incident from last August 6th when 31 Navy Seals, along with 7 Afghans, died in an Afghan ‘copter incident. I’ve no doubt this is the event that started the Facebook rumor.
Next though, I wondered what caused me to question either of the above events when no one else seemed to. Many people were remarking what a sad event the crash was without taking any effort to determine if it were true or not. If Maryanne said it was so, then it must be. Maryanne doesn’t lie.
Actually, Maryanne doesn’t lie, she is merely misinformed and passes it on no matter how incongruous it may sound. I wonder though at times, just what makes the mind tick. Why do I question what it seems no other does? Am I the only “Curious George” among the circle of my friends and acquaintances? If that is so, why is it so?
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