RoneBreak Contributor: egonzalez

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http://jadedconformist.blogspot.com/

Fact-Checking Chain-Mail: Misinformation in a World of Information

I think you can relate. Everyday, without exception, I receive eighty-two work related e-mails and 1,236 chain-letters from people throughout the planet, along with the odd signal from the cosmic microwave background radiation in outer-space. Today was no exception.

I received an e-mail about a prominent restaurant in Atlanta that had been shut down for allegedly using mice as a chicken substitute. Of course this was presented with visual stimuli to legitimize their claims, so presented to me in the e-mail were pictures of neatly packed, vacuum-sealed rodents acting as exhibit ‘A’ for a jury from which they never sought judgment.

For starters, I have family that lives in Atlanta so naturally I was wondering if they’d eaten there recently or have, at the very least, heard about this. Before causing them unnecessary distress (aside from what I try to give them on a consistent basis), I figured I’d do something out of the ordinary: Read more