Can you fathom why some people hear a rumor and immediately pass it on as a fact without doing any double checking?

LOL! The thread is going

“Oh! I didn’t hear that! That is really sad.”
Me: “It’s a hoax.”
Next person “Oh! I hope it is a hoax.”
Me: “It is (posted link.)”

The simple answer to your question: people are naive and stupid.

You can throw all sorts of psychological clap-trap; mob effects, crowd belief, but the underlying reason is the same. People are stupid and will believe anything.

You mean like this? it just seems like a sign of complete and utter laziness… when people don’t even bother to get dressed to go out and about, and then buy pop and candy with our money.

Yes, @gailcalled. That thread is finished.
”.....you seem possessed about this topic beyond what is understandable.”

Eddie Murphy died? How sad! I really liked him on SNL!

RIP Eddie!

:)

that was cool!

Passing along rumors by one person to others is, in part, about power and —i.e., I knew such-and-such before you did, and sometimes the desire to be the first to tell something outweighs the desire to check it out first.

Decades ago when I worked for a large NY newspaper, I was amazed by how thoroughly the desk editors checked and rechecked the details of a story before they released it to be printed. But nowadays in the era of the Internet and 24/7 news coverage, far too many unsubstantiated rumors pass as hard news.

What slays me is that it is so EASY to verify something like that.

Absolutely right, @Dutchess_III. Just one call to Murphy’s widow.

I don’t think he’s married.

You want a really fun one?

How about the time Joel Osteen said he was an atheist and was going to pay back a bunch of the tithes he had collected?

April Fool’s Day joke that got around the world before Google could put its pants on

So, after I posted the online link that showed his picture big and clear and that it was a hoax, the person right under me posted:

“The third was his birthday. :(”

Finally the OP said, “Thank you… I am so happy that it is a Hoax… I love Eddie Murphy.”

Some people are really gullible and/or don’t seem to have the brain power to stop and think before acting/reacting.

My mother is one of the people who will pass something on without checking it first. I always feel bad for her because she comes across as stupid when she does that. The rest of the family already thinks she’s ditzy because they don’t understand her. I keep reminding her to check first and she’s actually getting better at it. I even told her to send it to me, personally, first…before posting it on FB or mass emailing people. She’s actually done that a few times as well. She’s learning.
However, the people on my FB who do it the most are usually the younger ones. I never publicly post that their information is wrong. If I do tell them, it is via personal message.