Braai News April 2008

How Gullible Have We Become?
by Sharon Bond
Like many of us, you probably check your
email on a daily basis. You read through
the articles forwarded to you by friend and
family and as you read them, feelings of
shock, glee or I wonder how true this can
be, often pass through your mind.
Have we truly become so gullible that
we believe that if it’s on the internet it
must be true? Folks, I get everything from
Obama-bashing containing some of the
most unfounded and deplorable rumors
to pleas for help, claims and promises of
luck and money if I just forward this email
to 10 of my friends. Then there are those
insidious emails that tell me that if I don’t
forward it to at least 10 people, I will either
die, be cursed forever or never win
the lottery. G*d forbid. How shallow have
we become? Sometimes these emails are
inspiring, in which case, please have the
courtesy to delete the threats and just pass
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PAGE 8
Somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves to believe
that if it’s on the internet it must be true
on the good stuff to someone who you
think might enjoy it or benefit from it. The
latest one came regarding the South African
government. And then I started researching
to check the “facts.” Turns out
that this particular email has been doing
the rounds for more than 5 years and every
country under the sun has adopted it
as their very own. It goes like this:
Can you imagine working for a
company that has a little more
than 500 employees and has the
following statistics: 29 have been
accused of spousal abuse; 7 have
been arrested for fraud; 19 have
been accused of writing bad
cheques; 117 have directly or indirectly
bankrupted at least 2
businesses; 3 have done time for
assault; 71 cannot get a credit
card due to bad credit; 14 have
been arrested on drug-related
charges; 8 have been arrested for
shoplifting; 21 are currently defendants
in lawsuits; 84 have
been arrested for drunk driving
in the last year; 373 in total or
approximately 70%. Can you
guess which organization this is?
It’s the 535 members of the
SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIA-
MENT. (The same group that
cranks out hundreds of new laws
each year designed to keep the
rest of us in line!) You gotta pass
this one on! Far and wide!
Don’t you just love the “gotto pass this on”
bit at the end? This is what I’m talking about.
Bottom line is that there is so much crap on
the internet. It is the biggest rumor mill under
the sun and people just love to believe it all!
Thanks for sharing this one anyway. From
an entertainment point of view I suppose it
has some value. By the way, there is an
excellent website called www.snopes.com
If you have an urge for discretion, please
check it out first, otherwise you’re just another
cog in the rumor mill.
BRAAI NEWS APRIL 2008