Friday, December 23, 2011

myths

Cliff and I have a three-month trial of HBO going right now.  The last time I downgraded our channels to save money, they threw that in for free, hoping, I suppose, that we'd get hooked and keep it (to the tune of $15 a month).  
That isn't going to happen.  There are SO few movies that hold my attention.  We paid $6 to watch "The Help" on Pay-per-view this week, and it was well worth it.  But a movie has to be really good if I'm going to waste time on it.  Thanks to the Internet, I have a short attention span these days.  
The thing about HBO is that even though the package consists of about ten channels, the same movies are rebroadcast on all those channels over and over again, so that before long, I've already seen the few shows that would interest me.  
Yesterday there was one movie that was worth my time, even though I saw it years ago:  Fargo.  Oh, it's a bloodbath, but it is so well done!  
Why am I rambling on about movies?  Because Fargo begins with these words scrolling down the screen:  "This is a true story.  The events depicted in this film took place in 1987.  At the request of the survivors the names have been changed.  Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred."  For years I believed that!
It's a lie.  Check it out HERE.   Or, you can watch the credits at the end of the movie and see this statement in tiny print:  "No resemblance to any persons living or dead."  
There's actually more of a grain of truth in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" than in Fargo.  I never saw the remake of the chainsaw movie, just the old one from the 70's.  It was so ridiculous it was laughable.   
Which brings me to emails.  Some people seem to believe anything they read in emails, and then they forward the falsehoods to everybody they know.  
There's the story that John Wayne accepted Jesus on his deathbed.    There is some truth in that one, since he converted to Catholicism toward the end of his life, but the story you'll read in an email is all dressed up in lies.  Because we love the Duke, don't we?  And we love a good story with a happy ending.
What is it about soda cans that inspires so many lies?  If you've received an email warning you about soda cans in any way whatsoever, it's probably fiction.  Oh, and those pull tabs aren't worth anything, either, except for their aluminum content.  Check out the dozens of myths about pop cans HERE.  
I can't believe people are still forwarding emails about a "virus that will wipe out your hard drive!!!!!"  
Anybody who has an antivirus and keeps it updated won't have to worry much about a virus.  Besides, most of the email warnings you read are about some virus from three or four years ago that is no longer a threat.  
Can you unlock your car door with a cell phone?  No way.  Is your personal information on your motel key card?  Nope.  
But if you'd rather accept all the garbage that comes your way in emails as fact, go right ahead.   
As for me, I'll go to Snopes and check out those little gems, unless it's so far-out that any fool would know it's a lie.  Then I won't bother.   


One thing I've learned over the years, most people don't want to hear that the emails they're sending out are fabrications.  So I don't usually tell them; I just hit the delete key.  


But don't you DARE tell me there's no Santa Claus!

9 comments:

  1. Nita Cherry7:20 AM

    Just wanted to thank you again for sharing your lives with everyone and for the wonderful posts about just plain living.....for making us think, laugh and maybe even sometimes cry.

    Here's wishing you, Cliff and your family a Merry Christmas!

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  2. Santa Claus is behind Snopes. It's true!

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  3. Fargo is a damn fine movie, as are pretty much all the Coen brothers films. To bad more folks don't get it when I say "I was just thinking we could take care of it right here, in Brainerd".

    But, back to HBO. We hardly watch any movies on HBO, but nearly every series that we won't miss are on it. Of course, this is a bad time of year for that, because none of the good series go through the holidays, but be careful about getting into one of them while you have the free trial, because they are all better than anything on network tv.

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  4. Email is the tool of Satan. He will use it to spread false good news about the anti-christ who is living today and works at a neighborhood BP. If you sit too close to the monitor General Electric will read your brain waves and alter them to accept the coming reign of evil. Oh, and Obama killed Kennedy.

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  5. We got a free three month trial of HBO with our new Comcast phones and we won't keep it. My husband says the same thing as you!! One of my pet peeves is people who forward without fact checking. I check it for them then send all the info from snopes or factcheck.org. It makes me too mad to ignore!

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  6. I like the e-mails that claim to be verified by Snopes but if you actually go to Snopes, you'll find that they're either false or only partially true. You're absolutely right about people not wanting their errors pointed out to them. The answer I usually get is that even it it's false, the message behind it is good so therefore deserves to be shared. Not in my world.

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  7. The only movie channel we get here in Cowtown is "Encore", which plays a bunch of crap. I really miss "Turner Classic Movies" which I used to get in Odessa.
    Believe it or not, I met John Wayne once when I was a hotshot in California. I'm six-foot one, and Wayne towered over me!

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  8. Lindie4:15 PM

    I always delete things that say something good or bad will happen if I don't forward it to several people. And I use snopes too and often email whoever sends it to me to tell them to check snopes. I don't get any premium channels, I sometimes have them free for a short period and DVR any thing interesting but I would not pay more than I already do!

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  9. I hate those emails. Some people fall for anything. They say there's a sucker born every minute. My hubby got a virus via email, gave it to me. Everytime we think it's gone. Back it comes. Being officially unemployed/retired we canceled our HBO. I miss the movies and specials, but such is life. TAKE CARE.

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