How dickish/annoying is it to correct funny but apocryphal stories/pictures?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Sometimes on Facebook somebody will post a picture saying something wacky like “If you ever feel crazy, keep in mind that Julius Caesar once tried to make a palace out of ant carcasses! He sent half the Roman army to a large ant hill in Africa to gather ants for three months.”

Okay, maybe not that wacky, but common myths that are either untrue, or at least unlikely to be true. They usually revolve around the crazier or more vain historical figures (Nero, Caligula, maybe Napoleon, etc), so they’re not obviously untrue, but a minute of Googling shows them to be false. Usually the origin of the myth can be really interesting, sometimes it came from an old play, or it can be traced back to a fairy tale that got altered over time to be about the emperor/king/person in question. Though sometimes it’s merely a misattributed inspirational quote, eh, they happen.

A lot of times I get tempted to post the correction, not to be pedantic or call the person who posted it dumb, but because I find this stuff really fascinating. It find it adds to the factoid/picture. Kind of like “well, it is funny, but in reality…” I generally stop myself because I think people find it obnoxious, I know my mom will get absolutely pissed off about how I “always have to be right” and stuff whenever I correct her on that stuff in real life, or send her a Snopes link on something she told me earlier. It has nothing to do with them being gullible, sometimes I think they sound plausible too, I just think knowing the real story and origin of the false story makes it even more interesting. But then, at the same time, it only takes a minute to find this stuff out. So I just assume that if they don’t know they don’t want to know.

Look, I take “don’t let facts ruin a good story” to heart, and I try to make it clear that it’s still funny, but it also has a really interesting history behind it. It’s not like I’m going “you FAIL AT RESEARCH and you’re STUPID AND GULLIBLE.” It’s more like “Haha, that’s funny, but what’s interesting is that…” A lot of times I even try to post a (probably) true funny story about the person as “consolation” (before I decide not to post it I mean).

I still do post corrections, but only when the false quote is causing undue distress (those “don’t do this silly thing everyone does because of these new gang initiation rights” chain letters and stuff).

Am I just miscalibrated because of my mom’s nuclear overreaction, or am I right to suspect that holding my tongue is the best thing to do in the cases where it’s just a funny/inconsequential thing?

2

I always correct that bullshit, but then I’m kind of a dick.

3

I wouldn’t bother to correct it, personally. I don’t think your mom’s reaction is that unusual. The person will probably be annoyed that you are making them look bad and think you are acting like a know it all. If they really wanted to know the truth, as you said, they could google it.

Personally, the only facebook posts I hate are those “Sharing this means you love your mom. Ignoring this means you want your mom to die” or “1 like = a prayer for abused children”. I am kind of sad that some of my friends and family keep liking/sharing that stuff.

4

You might quote Mark Twain: “A good story, if true. And a good story anyway.”

5

I once coined the phrase “a splendid piece of misinformation” to ensure no hurt feelings when correcting someone who passed on what was, indeed, a truly splendid piece of misinformation.

6

It’s being a dick. Straight up.

Someone is sharing something entertaining, and you publicly correct them. It’d be one thing if somone was sharing a recipe for deep-fried soup, and your correction could save lives, but it’s not.

No one’s quality of life will be negatively impacted if they go one believing that Napoleon was 3’9", and tried to conquer Europe to spite tall people. In fact, their quality of life is enhanced, because they are enjoying an humorous anecdote.

If you really feel compelled to fight ignorance, I would talk to them about it privately. Maybe not even in reference to a specific story they’ve shared. You could even sell it as something they’d buy into.

“Hey! Did you know that 95% of internet forwards are completely made up? That’s outrageous! Can you believe that? Seriously. There’s this website that researches them all…”

7

As someone who always wants to correct things that are wrong, I feel your pain. My brother once posted a ‘quote’ from Morgan Freeman and I posted that it wasn’t actually ever said by him. Oh boy did I get raked over the coals. I got the same responses you did from your mother. How I always ‘had to be right’ and I didn’t have a right to go calling someone out on something like that on their wall. It actually pissed my brother off enough that he wouldn’t talk to me for a few days. It’s ridiculous, imo but I’ve also come to realize there’s absolutely no way of correcting things on Facebook without coming off as a dick or a know it all. It drives me crazy and I have to constantly fight the urge to correct them, but I realize that’s my problem, not theirs.

8

It can be annoying and people ought to decide whether to do so on the basis of whether it might be annoying. I don’t think it’s dickish except in some circumstances, like correcting a hero giving a speech.

9

Depends…

It can be dick-ish. Esp if you are simply making it about you and your need to always be the one who is correct (if that’s an issue with you and your family or friends).

The biggest problem with it: It likely won’t matter anyways. They’ll do it again, either the same thing or with a different story. Why not send a private message? I used to do it with e-mails from friends way back when. But, I’ve now actually just given up with some people. When they get too stupid for me, I walk away. I feel that is ME learning something. At least someone learns …

10

it depends. Are they using that wacky story to try and prove a point? Then yes, you can correct them. If it’s just to be funny, then maybe just use movingfinger’s Twain quote.

11

As DrDeth says, it depends.

If the factual accuracy of the story doesn’t matter, if the story is just being told as a kind of parable to illustrate a point, then it might be a bit dickish to correct it. You’d certainly come across as a pedantic know-it-all.

On the other hand, if factual accuracy actually matters to the conversation/debate, then by all means correct the story.

12

Of course it depends - can be dickish or non-dickish. But looking at it from the other side, I definitely WANT people to tell me if something I put out there really isn’t true or correctly attributed. I’m very careful about telling stories or using quotes to make a point and I frequently go to the trouble to research them.

This came about because one day I said something that turned out to be completely untrue. It was a fairly innocuous piece of trivia, but a co-worker heard it and (politely) contradicted me. I looked it up and she was right. It caused me to wonder how many other stories and bits of trivia I believed really aren’t true. Turned out there were many, and now I rather enjoy digging out the provenance of various stories, quotes or sayings.

So yes, when I see somebody trot out the “Americans spent a billion dollars creating a space pen while Russia just used pencils”, I say something. Recently a friend used the “Admiral Yamamoto didn’t want to invade the U.S. because the citizenry had guns” line on me. Sorry - no evidence that he ever said that. I try not to be a dick about it, but after a few repetitions I’m not above saying, “Pull the other leg, why don’t you?”

13

It’s may be a bit dickish, but it’s positively expected around here!

14

Obligatory XKCD link.

15

If what they are saying is meant in a light-hearted, “let’s make small talk” kind of way, I won’t correct them. I might go about it in an oblique way (“Really? I thought it was XYZ. So that’s interesting.”) But I won’t flat-out say they are wrong.

But if the conversation is more of an argument or I’m being lectured to in a condescending way, I will correct them.

16

I had a stupid fundie co-worker who kept sending me glurge of the 1 prayer type, so I mass emailed back a link to the internet prayer wheel and told her that this was a direct spin … and I could pray for whatever I wanted :stuck_out_tongue:

oddly enough she stopped sending me glurge :smiley:

17

The ones I cannot let go are the “ZOMG AMBER ALERT!!!1!!” which describes a vicious child predator raping his way across the USA in a vehicle described with a specific license plate… and then five seconds at Snopes reveals that this prolific child rapist has been reported in every state and every Canadian province for the past ten years. I think people should be executed for false Amber Alerts.

Facebook themselves could stop this if they had a legitimate Amber Alerts page but since they don’t, it falls to me to correct my dumbass friends again and again when they keep falling for this one. See also rapists leaving notes on cars in parking lots, gang initiations involving flashing high beams at passing cars and cancer babies who can be cured by a three-cent donation when you click “like”.

18

My father’s line was, “That’s a nasty, vicious, untrue rumor that I’m starting.”

19

I know two people who kept sending me email full of shit forwarded to them by U.S. fundie fruitcakes of the thousands-of-coffins and reservations-in-Montana-set-aside-for-American-citizen-concentration-camps-after-they-take-our-guns persuasion.

I always replied with links to Snopes or to where ever else on the net that pricked their stupid bubbles. Asking why a Canadian should be worried about prayer in U.S. schools did no good. I think one of them sends money.

One of these people stopped emailing me completely last year. I like to think that this pic that I sent turned off the flow.

The other still emails me but stopped forwarding the shit.

20

Right, I understand people feel that way, which is why I usually don’t, but it confuses me. To me, the point is to add to their enjoyment. To give more layers to the anecdote, and expose the rich history and evolution of how such a story came to be told the way it is (as much of it as is known at least). But then, people like my mom also get pissed off at me when I dare to analyze movies afterwards. To them looking at the themes, messages, plot holes, cinematography, music usage and stuff is obnoxious and pisses them off. Oftentimes my mom will yell “why can’t you just enjoy things!?” To me it makes the movie far more fun than it would be alone. Maybe this comes from the same place.

It has nothing to do with knowitallery, I’ve shared erroneous things and when people correct me I’m always cheerful and find it fascinating (if it was obviously dumb I might be the tiniest bit embarrassed, but not too much). As long as they’re polite about it at least.

Oh well, I guess it’s just a different strokes thing.