Misinformation, myth, and urban legends have been with us since the beginning of time. It is easy to see how information can be twisted by the telling and retelling of some piece of fact. The illustration of a sentence whispered to a group of children, shows how quickly a simple story can become totally different. In the experiment a short sentence is whispered to a child and that child in turn, whispers the sentence to the next child: "Mary took her book and walked to the library to return it". By the time the last child hears the sentence and is asked to repeat the sentence it becomes, "Sally was running and lost her socks"! Of course, this works with adults as well and combines listening skills, life experience and reason. If we do not consider what we read or hear with some degree of reason, then we can easily perpetuate the fact as we believe that we have heard or seen it.
I was prompted to post this entry when I heard two people talking in line at the market. The two women in front of me had both bought wine and one woman had mentioned to the other that she had heard that some animals get drunk, including elephants in the wild. As I was not a part of the conversation I didn't challenge the information but was curious. How much alcohol was required to get an elephant drunk? Considering the size, I assumed that it would be quite a bit. But, the women added, "I heard it on the TV show The Big Bang Theory". Really? Since when is a show designed for entertainment a source of accuracy? So, later on I found the episode and it was stated that elephants did eat the fruit on the ground of the marula tree that had fermented and became drunk. Not believing this allegation, I searched for more substantial information and found that the question had been asked and answered at National Geographic here. So much for drunk elephants!
There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation. Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false information or propaganda. But, both can be difficult to verify. It seems that the best way to learn if there is some truth to a statement is to dig around to as many sites as possible and not to blindly believe everything that seems reasonable. The internet makes it easy to find both good and bad information. Did a women actually put her cat in the microwave to dry it off after a bath? Maybe, as there are some pretty stupid people. But it seems like another urban myth to me. If it seems unreasonable, it probably is, and if there is a question, check it out for yourself. Snopes.com has some interesting misinformation, misconceptions, and urban myths here.
I wonder if tryptophan in turkey makes you sleepy? Good question...
I was prompted to post this entry when I heard two people talking in line at the market. The two women in front of me had both bought wine and one woman had mentioned to the other that she had heard that some animals get drunk, including elephants in the wild. As I was not a part of the conversation I didn't challenge the information but was curious. How much alcohol was required to get an elephant drunk? Considering the size, I assumed that it would be quite a bit. But, the women added, "I heard it on the TV show The Big Bang Theory". Really? Since when is a show designed for entertainment a source of accuracy? So, later on I found the episode and it was stated that elephants did eat the fruit on the ground of the marula tree that had fermented and became drunk. Not believing this allegation, I searched for more substantial information and found that the question had been asked and answered at National Geographic here. So much for drunk elephants!
There is a difference between misinformation and disinformation. Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false information or propaganda. But, both can be difficult to verify. It seems that the best way to learn if there is some truth to a statement is to dig around to as many sites as possible and not to blindly believe everything that seems reasonable. The internet makes it easy to find both good and bad information. Did a women actually put her cat in the microwave to dry it off after a bath? Maybe, as there are some pretty stupid people. But it seems like another urban myth to me. If it seems unreasonable, it probably is, and if there is a question, check it out for yourself. Snopes.com has some interesting misinformation, misconceptions, and urban myths here.
I wonder if tryptophan in turkey makes you sleepy? Good question...
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