Yes, Virginia, they CAN develop BS-Detectors

[RedShoesBlueState]

Today, my Jesoid sister sent me another one of those health alert SPAM emails. This one was the "don't freeze drinking water in plastic bottles" one. In the past, she's sent me the anti-perspirant-causes-breast-cancer one, and the canola-oil-is-deadly one, among many others. I've followed up with links to Snopes. The difference THIS time, however, is that she included a note with it. "Does this sound legit to you, or what do you think?"

AHA! They can be trained. They can learn to develop skepticism. They can learn to detect bullshit. She's not there yet, but this is a tiny baby step. I declare Victory Almost.

Now if I can just get her to remove me from her prayer chain....

[TZ]

1. Maybe.

Has your sister tried to foist "The Secret" on you yet? I've been there done that....:eyes:

[RedShoesBlueState]

4. Actually, no

She's got the whole Super Christian thing going (my nickname is "Jesoid"), and tends to stay away from all that stuff.

I do have a friend who worships at the Altar of Oprah, however -- and she's all about the Secret. She uses it to find parking spaces and to make the waitress come faster. "I SWEAR, it works, Red Shoes!"
Try to explain randomness, coincidence to her -- no way.

[Heddi]

2. I trained my in-laws, sort-of

My husband's mom & her husband were constantly sending us the email glurge that everyone has gotten---about how this causes cancer, or how to be careful before getting in a car, and don't pick up that $5 bill you see on the street because it's just a ploy to kidnap you into white slavery, etc etc.

I finally had enough after they sent us this 10309283908 page email about some woman who was killed by an axe murderer who snuck in her car when she got out to pump gas and didn't lock the door and made the mistake of getting BACK into the car and then was hacked to death and amazingly there was never any news coverage of this or the TWENTY OTHER SIMILAR AXE MURDERER DEATHS that happened in during the same month and if only these young women had heeded some retarded internet advice, their lives would have been saved, if only....

So I knew it was glurge, and checked on Snopes.com and whaddya know---it's glurge.

So I email them back and do a "reply all" to the 10,000,000 other people they emailed this garbage to and said "Just FYI--just because it appears in your email doesn't mean it's true. Might wanna check out the validity of these stories before clogging up everyone's email with them"

My mother-in-law's husband (King Asshole and Lord of Douchebaggery) emails back "Well, sometimes these emails (even if they're not true) get us to think about things, and if this email (even if it's not true) saves someone because it made them think, then I think that's a good thing"

I replied "I am scared and frightened of people who need fictitious emails to prompt their use of common sense"

---

Now, when they send us glurge (and they still do) they preface it with "we checked this out on snpes, and it's legit" and provide a link.

Of course I guaranTEE you that they still BELIEVE the other 90% that aren't authenticated by snopes---I mean these people don't trust Doctors because they're "out for profits" but spend OODLES Of their very limited cash on herbal supplements. My mother in law just told us last week she's not taking Lisinopril for her blood pressure anymore because she "doesn't like taking things" and is, instead, drinking Apple Cider Vinegar 4x's a day for blood pressure and cholesterol control.

As a nurse, I told her "NO WAY" but what do i know? I'm just part of the profit machine....

[RedShoesBlueState]

5. hehe

I did a "Reply All" once to one of the right wing political things she was forwarding, and gave the original post holy hell for its ignorance. She was mortified that I had insulted the intelligence of her idiot friends, and never sent me anything like that again.

[realisticphish]

3. my mother used to send me forwards

but now, she actually responds to people who send HER forwards with links to snopes. I'm so proud :D