Personally I like the new-fangled title of Urban Legends. I keep seeing/hearing people blissfully going around making statements about common things that are absolutely not true. Why doesn’t anyone question the validity of random comments stated as fact?

The other day my aunt re-quoted what a friend had told her about margarine. It sounded ridiculous and I just had to look this up to see if any if it were true. None of it was. Ludicrous, bold affirmations peppered this email-chain like a professional document. You’d think the people that invented margarine were out to get us butter-loving enthusiasts and kills us off!

I was so incensed that I commented with the link to Wikipedia with the history behind the dubious butter wannabe. No one said a word back. I nearly choke on my own spit every time someone innocently says: well, dragonflies have meaning because they only live for one day…wake up, people!

In real life, they live for over 6 months and not because they die of old age, but because they became food for other little beasties. I can actually claim that I met a somewhat intelligent person who still believed that toads can give you warts.

In an age where information is literally at our fingertips within seconds, it saddens me to see such ignorant idiocy populate our minds and being passed on to other seemingly resourceful people who accept it as FACT.

Think, my friends. Don’t accept everything you read as truth; don’t spread crap around the internet when you haven’t done your homework to find out if it’s FACT or FICTION.

Rub a few brain cells together and do some research before you start preaching the word.

I’m reminded of silly rumours I used to hear when I was in grade 4. Stories that were passed around from child to child about something so insane that it made little girls & boys gasp with wonder, horror and curiosity.

We are not little kids anymore; stop polluting the world with untruths.