Internet Hoaxes, Urban Legends & Gullible People

Okay, I will confess, I’ve been known to be a little too gullible at times. And I will admit when you first start using the internet, everyone falls for some hoax or urban legend. But then, after that you should know better.

I guess it doesn't work that way. What I see happening with internet hoaxes just amazes me. Otherwise intelligent people get all excited and fall for all kinds of things. Just this morning I had the same e-petition sent to me by two different people, and at least one of them I know to be quite intelligent, asking me to sign this petition and send it on.

Here’s a sample of this particular urban legend:

• "Removal of Joel Osteen, Donald Hillard, Michael & Dee Dee Freeman, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah, Floyd Flake, Paul & Deborah Morton, William Watley, Zachary Tims, and other pastors from the airwaves. An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington , D.C. Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America . They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from public schools! You as a Christian can help!
  
  We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country. As Christians, we must unite on this."

Now if this were true, it would be something to get excited about. But people! This is an OLD hoax with just a little updating of names. I mean, come on, it’s been going around in one form or another for years.

First off, Petition No. 2493 was filed in December of 1974 by Jeremy D. Lansman and Lorenzo W. Milam asking the FCC to inquire into the operating practices of stations licensed to religious organizations, and not to grant any new licenses for new noncommercial educational broadcast stations until the inquiry had been completed. The FCC denied this petition on August 1, 1975. (Do the math, that's over 33 years ago!)

So right off the bat, you can see this isn’t valid. And other questions come to mind. Just WHAT organization is supposed to be filing this petition? This email doesn’t say. Seems to me if the writer knows the organization has 287,000 signatures to back their attempt, they ought to know who is making the attempt.

You’re instructed to send the email to a certain address when there are 1000 signatures. Which 1000 signatures? With people passing it on to several others, each time it gets sent, the top section of names remains the same as the bottom is constantly changing.

Furthermore, the email address listed to send it to is NOT a valid email address. I checked it out, and got this message, “Permanent Failure: 550_Requested_action_not_taken:_mailbox_unavailable” Frankly, that's the way it usually is.

So this isn’t a valid petition to the FCC at this time. And there isn’t a valid group trying to do this. And there isn’t a valid email address to send the petition to even when there it reaches 1000 names.

But in the meantime, 827 people had signed this petition before I got it. Yes, 827 people!

And you know what REALLY gets me???? Not one of those 827 people took time to THINK FOR THEMSELVES and check to see if this was for real. I’ve mentioned before that I concede to being fed up with people too lazy to think for themselves.

Seriously folks! Are we all too gullible, too lazy, or what? Who uses the internet today that doesn’t know how to use Google? Type in “FCC Petition 2493” and see how many pages of results come up saying this is a HOAX, an URBAN LEGEND, it’s not true. It wouldn't take anyone more than a few seconds to verify for themselves if this email was for real. But 827 people didn't bother to take the time, plus who knows how many more that weren't on the particular list of signatures in the email I got.

Furthermore, an internet petition is just a waste of time anyway. Check out Snopes on the subject. It may make people feel good to sign such a petition and pass it on, like they're actually doing something, but that's an illusion. Even if the petition does eventually get sent to a real person, and further, a person who is in the position to actually DO anything about it, how are they supposed to verify the signatures are for real? Anyone could set down and make up a bunch of names and send it on.

If you want to tilt at windmills, fine. Read Don Quixote. But quit wasting your time passing on useless e-petitions, especially those that have no basis in reality. And maybe, just maybe, take the time to think for yourself instead of blindly following what someone else says as gospel truth.