Why does nobody fact-check those viral 'gas station syringe in the pump handle' posts from 2018

I just hit 50 forwarded messages from my aunt about that same story over the past week and each one had a different gas station name pasted on it, so is anyone actually verifying these things before hitting send?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wade20d ago

It's exhausting seeing the same thing over and over with zero checking, people really need to slow down before hitting forward.

-1

charles_young9220d ago

Yeah it really gets to me too! My dad used to forward me all sorts of crazy stuff about what's in our drinking water or whatever, and I'd have to spend twenty minutes fact checking it. Do you think most people just don't know how to verify something, or do they genuinely not care as long as it fits what they already believe? Because I see a lot of folks sharing stuff that's obviously fake just because it makes them mad or confirms their suspicions. It feels like people are more interested in the reaction than the truth these days.

kim.nina19d ago

My aunt sends me the same kind of stuff all the time. Just last week she forwarded me this thing about eggs giving you cancer if you eat them past noon. I spent 20 minutes on Snopes and the FDA site to prove it was made up. She didn't care. Said she "felt it was true." That's the part that gets me. People would rather trust a feeling than a fact.