It’s all cyclical. Nothing dies on the internet. Shames me to say my cousin, a chemical engineer for 3M, is the worse culprit in our family tree. An incredibly intelligent person who sent us an email a couple months ago about how the government is going to tax email like normal mail. Hello fucking 10 years ago. Christmas of '05, he shows me a picture of Columbia exploding in space which was supposedly taken by Mir. I look at him in disbelief, “That’s the opening scene from the movie Armageddon.”.
Sure, Snopes is a fun link to send, but whenever possible I try to include something, from the Master. After all, isn’t that why we’re here - to fight ignoramus’s?
Hmm. Is it possible that Mommie Dearest is so smart she sends this stuff out just because she likes to get the attention back? It’s a little bit dysfunctional, but stranger things have happened.
Regarding the rest, a committment to absolute truth is not a universal ideal. In fact, it’s less common than random superstitions are. The world is so full of ignorant fools that we are all related to at least one, if not many.
It’s a good theory, but as loony as Mom is, that isn’t really something she would do. She’s usually more interested in getting us to leave her alone than trying to get our attention. 
You tryin to ruin my day?