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I happen to be one of those people who love my daily dose of the Internet. I have a little routine I follow each morning much like I used to follow when I read newspapers. After I pour my morning coffee I come in here to my office and read emails from family and friends, respond, and then scan the news. Along with the family and friends’ emails there are often attachments. I save those for last.
This morning I received a beauty. It represented itself as a college project and the end result was an amazing musical with little balls and a variety of metal and musical instruments and sounds all made from farm machines. About a quarter of the way through the video my Internet skeptic vibe kicked in. After watching this video I did some research via Snopes and sure enough, it was a hoax. Sadly, I don’t understand why it wasn’t presented as the truth, a clever computer animation. Why it was necessary for the creators to fabricate a story to make it more amazing is not clear. Here's the link to the video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuA7fG58KI
and a link to the Snopes hoax buster:
www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp
I think it’s worth watching even after knowing it’s a hoax. But when I first read the story and started watching it I was dazzled. It took a few seconds for the credibility to diminish. I went ahead and thoroughly enjoyed it anyway!
Along with all of that we often get emails showing “art” and often this art is not art in the traditional sense but rather computer diddling. I see nothing wrong with computer diddling as long as it is represented as such. In fact, I’m amazed by it and as a creator I’d be proud to send something fabulous out to the world and identify it for what it is: computer art! However, I think the desire to trick the public is greater than the artist’s desire to produce art.
Also this morning I read that hackers had tricked millions of Wells Fargo and Bank of America account holders by emailing them and requesting personal information. Some sort of “bank error.” These account holders immediately sent all their information, passwords, account numbers, etc. I too received these emails. I did not respond because no bank ever contacts an account holder in that manner. I’ve heard stories on the evening news countless times that no reputable organization ever asks for this information online. The only way one can be sure is to call them and do not use the phone number provided in their email. Look it up in the phone book. Don’t look it up online because they often have themselves embedded in online searches. Go to your branch. Don’t give it all away.
Along with hackers and hoaxes we also receive horrendous hate emails on a variety of topics. Many of them are quotes by real individuals taken out of context. Some are 100% made up and attributed to someone. They fly around the Internet as fact fueling heat and anger and rage. We are too quick to believe everything we read, see, and hear. And not just on the Internet. We need to be wary of everything we read, see, and hear. We don’t live in a truthful world.
I admit that I have been a fan of computers and the Internet for a very long time. Longer than most of my family and friends. I hopped on at the very beginning and have learned the good, the bad, and the ugly, about the Internet. It is a fantastic tool for research, news, and fun, but it can be a problem. Even deadly. I recall the hate mail/text campaign against a teen by her competition’s mother resulting in the recipient’s suicide. The mother sent out the vicious emails and texts to everyone attacking the girl’s character then actually told the girl she should kill herself because everyone hated her. The girl committed suicide.
Years ago a coworker and I were discussing theater tickets. She decided to quickly look up the dates and prices while we were chatting and turned her back after she did a quick search. Our computers were not speedy so she knew it might take a little time. I returned to my desk to await the information. When she turned back around to her screen she let out a little yelp. There on her screen, in all its horrific glory, was a piece of explicit porn. Just as she quickly closed the screen one of our managers walked into her cubicle with a question. Close call. We later determined that she must have typed the search query oddly or with a typo and that’s what she got.
Some people watch a good amount of porn on their computers and some gamble. Some participate in chat rooms and others shop. Sports fans can watch a variety of sports all day (and gamble on the outcome of their favorite team). And there are a huge number of folks who play fantasy sports. People who don’t even enjoy regular sports are addicted to fantasy sports. The entertainment provided, good or bad, is tremendous and one of our best dollar values as a lot of it is free. Abuse is bound to be in the mix. I happen to be addicted to movies. There are so many free movies online that I rarely turn on my TV anymore. I work in my home office during the day and as I work I watch movies. Movies and TV series from around the world. For free!
Sometimes I’ve been fooled by clever videos or stories. Some stories, the tearjerker type, are clearly soap opera. They fly around depicting a child who is dying and all we have to do is send the email to 10 people and the results will be sent to the child making him or her feel better. I suspect there may be some that are truthful but I recall one that went around for almost five years and it was the same 5-year-old child. Often the child had a different name and lived in a different state but it was the same photo. Some stories are so close to the truth that when I look it up on Snopes or elsewhere I discover that though it’s “this,” it’s really “that.” Some attachments threaten that if we don’t forward the email on in the next five minutes our roof will cave in, God will punish us, or we are traitors to our country unless we do.
Clever manipulation of information has always been the scourge of humanity. Sometimes it can cause great havoc if we believe it. After 911, the most horrific event in my memory, false stories went around that were outrageous. The event was horrific enough without any help. What is the purpose of making it worse? I recall stories of personal loss that were heartbreaking only to discover they were false and the person or persons were simply trying to get in on the money being given to victims and their families. The Internet fueled these false stories and helped these sick people spread their lies. And many of us believed them. I have to say, one or two stories came my way and sounded real enough but after research I learned they were not.
About the time I got married a few months ago we planned a trip. When we learned we were pregnant we immediately took a vacation to Hawaii. After dinner one night we stood on our little balcony and saw something in the bushes. We thought it was a peeping Tom. We decided to report it so we called the desk and they explained it was the island's version of Big Foot. I cracked up and thought it was hilarious to think of Big Foot in Hawaii. So I looked it up on my iPhone and saw photos of the creature! The photos looked real enough so we weren’t entirely skeptical. It looked a bit more realistic than most Big Foot sightings. After all, we did see a hulk in the shadows. Sometimes Big Foot sightings in forests are actually bears but we didn’t think that was the case here. I still thought it might be a person. My husband decided to try to get a photo though it was dark. This is what he captured:
http://rlv.zcache.com/funny_sasquatch_bigfoot_photosculpture-p153134670284987715qdjh_400.jpg
I was going to send it around the Internet but decided I’d post it here instead. I still think it’s a good idea to view it with skepticism.
www.sharonstrawhandgarner.com
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(If you believe in Big Foot sightings that’s okay. If you believe I got married a few months ago, you’re nuts. If you believe I’m pregnant, you’re seriously deranged.)
