There's a Sucker Born Every Minute

It was on my Technorati search. I clicked on the link, read it, and rolled my eyes. I KNEW it would land in my e-mail within a day or two. The next day, a link to “That Girl Emily” appeared.

A little primer: A relatively new blog, ”That Girl Emily” started at as a little journal about Emily, a real estate agent in the New Jersey area and her life. Emily soon finds out her husband, Steven, is cheating on her with best friend, Laura. Of course, hell hath no fury as a woman scorned, so the blog details her path of anger and revenge. The opening volley in this divorce war was cashing in on some favors and buying the following billboard:

Raise your hand if your B.S. Meter just started blaring.

How did the internet turn us into a gullible society? Every day, I get e-mails from family, friends, and co-workers that claim fantastic stories of bad luck, tears, and even the end of the world. Most of the time, I just delete them. In the wild, wild world of the internet…you have to exercise some caution and separate the bullshit from the real deal!

Listen up, internet junkies:
1. I do not continue chain letters
2. Donate money to some foreigner claiming to be the rightful king of his country
3. Boycott Target because they allegedly turned down donating to a local Veteran’s Group
4. Sign internet petitions for some random law that “sounds” like it might affect me.

Why?
1. Luck is a state of mind, bad or otherwise.
2. If you read a news board instead of a gossip column every once in awhile, you’d know enough world events to know that royalty never has to use the internet to solicit money.
3. Big corporations may not be able to support local charities on the grass roots level, but they do wonders on the national level with all sorts of charitable organizations.
4. Most internet petitions are not standard legal procedure and are usually only valid if you LIVE in the city/county/state it’s being circulated in.

Many of us are apt to hear nowadays that just because we heard it on the news, it doesn’t mean it’s true. Why can’t we apply that to the internet? Shoot…at least if the news gets it wrong, they can get sued! As time has shown us though, the internet is the perfect hiding place for modern day hucksters and conmen. The kicker: If we apply just a little bit of the common sense that we supposedly use in real life, you can spot this stuff right away.

You wouldn’t willingly give money to a complete stranger on the street (even if they happen to be ringing a bell next to a red bucket) – so what in your right mind would possess you to send money because of an e-mail that’s probably been around the world hundreds, if not thousands of times?

After reading up on Emily’s blog, my gut told me that this can’t be the real thing. I read a lot of Chick Lit books to see the standard plot devices. Even before I started digging deeper, I picked apart her story. I’ve had a few discussions with the people who have sent me the link and there are some who staunchly defend that it’s the real deal. In the interest of letting y’all decide on your own, I won’t publish my instincts here. I’ll just say, read the blog and decide for yourself.

After all – we all have our own minds. For Pete’s sake…USE IT!