# AARGH! Why oh why is anyone still falling for this crap?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [November 10, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081 "2004-11-10T21:05:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/41 "2004-11-12T17:09:22Z")

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> [@Rubystreak](#):
>
> … And don’t kill the messenger-- I’m trying to help you not be duped by what are basically virulent little memes of falsehood.

May I just say that **Virulent Little Memes of Falsehood** would make an _excellent_ name for a rock band?

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**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/42 "2004-11-12T17:46:59Z")

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> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> Yesterday, a cow-orker sent me the “chicken head in a box of McNuggets” picture. I sent her the snopes story (which is FOUR YEARS OLD). She ignored it by saying, “Well, it could happen.”
> 
> :rolleyes:

I’m just as skeptical about email forwards as anyone else, and Snopes was the first place I looked for the truth on the chicken head thing when I first heard about it. [Reading the article again](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/friedrat.htm), I still fail to see anywhere where Snopes debunks this as a myth. Maybe I’m missing something.

> [@](#):
>
> From the “You Deserve a Beak Today” category, on 28 November 2000, a breaded deep-fried chicken head was found in a box of chicken wings purchased at a McDonald’s in Newport News, Virginia. Katherine Ortega says she discovered the McNoggin while divvying up the wings at home for her family of four. (Fried chicken wings were being test-marketed in that area.)  
> \<snip\>  
> At this point, not enough is known to determine if anyone is trying to hoax anyone else, if a poultry plant worker or McDonald’s employee thought he’d have himself an innocent bit of fun, or if something went severely wrong with the food processing procedures at the plant and thus a McNoggining could happen again. Further information will be provided as soon as it is available.

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**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/43 "2004-11-12T18:47:40Z")

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I got an oldie but a goodie today:

> [@](#):
>
> CBS discontinued “Touched by an Angel” for using  
> \>  
> \> theword God in every program. Madeline Murray  
> \>  
> \> O’Hare, an atheist, successfully managed to  
> \>  
> \> eliminatethe use of Bible reading from public  
> \>  
> \> schoolsa few years ago.  
> \>  
> \>  
> \>  
> \> Now her organization has been granted a Federal  
> \>  
> \> Hearing on the same subject by the Federal  
> \>  
> \> Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington,DC.  
> \>  
> \>  
> \>  
> \> Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave  
> \>  
> \> theway to stop the reading of the gospel our Lord  
> \>  
> \> andSavior, on the airwaves of America.  
> \>  
> \>  
> \>  
> \> They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand!  
> \>  
> \>  
> \> If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship  
> \>  
> \> servicesbeing broadcast on the radio or by  
> \>  
> \> televisionwill be stopped. This group is also  
> \>  
> \> campaigningto remove all Christmas programs and  
> \>  
> \> Christmas carols from public schools!!  
> \>

I’m still trying to decide whether or not to refute this one. It’s not as though the sender doesn’t already hate me (in a totally Christian holier-than-thou manner).

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**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/44 "2004-11-12T19:06:45Z")

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Well, as long as they hate you in a _Christian_ way…:rolleyes:

😃

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/45 "2004-11-12T19:07:22Z")

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> [@Dung Beetle](#):
>
> I’m still trying to decide whether or not to refute this one. It’s not as though the sender doesn’t already hate me (in a totally Christian holier-than-thou manner).

Go ahead, [she’s about 30 years too late](http://www.fcc.gov/mb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html) anyway.

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**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/46 "2004-11-13T00:21:06Z")

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> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Something like that happened to me yesterday. The receptionist sent around a message that there was – get this – a BMW in the parking lot with the lights on.
> 
> I fired back a nasty email with a link to the snopes home page, suggesting that she check these things out before passing them along.
> 
> And today, for some reason, the VP of Product Development is mad at ME!
> 
> 😕☹😕

Now THAT is cool! Snopes found it important enough to write an article about your V.P.'s BMW? What did he or his car do to deserve being debunked?

I really wasn’t sure if this was a joke or a snark. I’m going with joke. That was funny!

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/47 "2004-11-13T01:12:22Z")

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> [@Faruiza](#):
>
> I really wasn’t sure if this was a joke or a snark. I’m going with joke.

**Scarlett67:** I’m so dumb . . .  
**SDMB:** HOW DUMB ARE YOU?!  
**Scarlett67:** I’m so dumb that I went to Snopes and searched on “BMW” to find out about this new UL about BMWs with their lights on. :smack:

Yeah, good one!

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**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/48 "2004-11-13T13:33:13Z")

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> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> One of my SILs always forwards me the, “Wonderful friend you are, please forward this to everyone you know to show them how much you care.” crap.

I’ve taught my mother and her sister all about Snopes, so I no longer get the ULs and hoaxes from them, but I still get the glurgey sentimental crap. Once I scroll past the zillion addresses and arrow points to read what it is (when I don’t just roll my eyes and delete it), it’s followed by this:

> [@](#):
>
> \> \>  
> \> \>  
> \> \> I AM THANKFUL FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS  
> \> \>WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.  
> \> \>  
> \> \> SEND THIS TO ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT. . . I JUST DID !!!  
> \> \>

Really - I went back and found an email my mother sent me yesterday about dogs and copied that from the end of it. :rolleyes:  
“Thankful” for too much email? Sheesh.

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**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/49 "2004-11-13T14:27:04Z")

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> [@Otto](#):
>
> It’s threads like this that make me happy not to have any friends.

If I had a sig, this would so be it.

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aargh-why-oh-why-is-anyone-still-falling-for-this-crap/274081/50 "2004-11-13T15:35:30Z")

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Yesterday, a guy I know sent out that Muslim stamp boycott thing, full of anti-Muslim tripe. I was gonna send him a list of the mythbuster links, and try to explain that not all Muslims are terrorists, just as not all Catholics attack family planning clinics, and not all environmentalists burn SUVs, but then I thought about him. He’s a dumbass, and the attempted fight of ignorance would be lost, so I didn’t bother to waste the bandwidth.

This morning, one of the other recipients emailed everyone to provide the links and flame the writer for being a dimwitted arse and perpetuating stupid hate-filled shit. Huzzah!

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