Blog 16 (Internet Hoaxes)

As many of you probably already know, the internet has greatly changed the way we communicate. Do you remember when we actually had to call our friends instead of talking to them on MSN Messenger? Do you remember when we actually had to go to our friends' houses to look at their photos in photo albums? But do you also remember when we had to spend long, extensive hours at the library when we had research papers due in high school? With online library databases, all we have to do is type in keywords we're looking for any many books, newspapers, journals, etc. show up on the list. The internet has changed the way information is shared too. Did you know lots of modern hoaxes begin on the internet. Often times, if I hear or read a hoax in more than one spot or from more than one person, I tend to believe it. What is even harder to figure out, though, is whether the hoax is in fact a hoax. Finding credible internet sources has become even harder with blogs, social networking sites, and personal homepages.

One myth I've heard frequently that maybe some of you have too is that Nostradamus predicted the 9/11 terrorist attacks among many other historical events like the fall of the Roman Empire. According to urbanlegends.about.com, this is what Nostradamus actually wrote in his prophecy book The Centuries:
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb", The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

and this is an internet hoax that people created using small references to his prophecies in his book along with certain words and phrases to make it sound far more accurate:
"Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis. The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude. Fire approaches the great new city."

When I first heard of this hoax, I heard the latter of the two examples. New York sits at around 45 degrees latitude. Two steel birds obviously refers to airplanes? New city refers to New York City? All I can say is that the second one was a lot more freaky than the first one. Well, turns out this second one is a hoax. How is one supposed to know that, though, because there are plenty of websites that claim that prophecy was in fact made by him. I guess the only answer is to go out and buy the book, read the prophecies, and then decide how you want to interpret them.

Anyway, this blog is not to tell you about Nostradamus or which prophecies are correct. It is to tell you how influential internet hoaxes can be. Sometimes people rely so much on the internet that they forget how to find out credible information. I'll admit, I'm guilty of that sometimes. Snopes.com is a great site dedicated to finding the answer to urban legends and internet hoaxes. Popular TV show, Mythbusters, also has some episodes dedicated to solving internet myths, which is how I thought of this blog topic today. So the next time you hear something crazy, try logging on to Snopes.com. I find that site far more credible than a lot of other ones.