November 2007

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There's a letter going going around about health care in Canada. I've seen it a few times, and because I have a number of friends in Canada who have not had the experiences noted in this letter, I decided to check with the Urban Legends people. This link will take you to their report on it, which goes through the points in the letter and comments on them. Scroll down to the word, "Origins," in bold print.

Apparently there are points in the letter that are correct, and some that are not.

The Urban Legends people have some flaws (not the least of which are annoying advertising pop-ups), but in general they are on the ball about digging for the facts.

I recommend always checking with them if you get a please-forward e-mail of any sort, especially if it contains a report of some hideous crime. I got one of those the other day, too, and sure enough, UL refuted it.

I don't know how these misinformation things get started. Being charitable, I think the majority of them have someone's good intentions behind them. After all, most of them warn readers not to do something. (I'm not talking about those damnable chains that threaten dire consequences if you don't forward the miserable thing...I'm talking about the ones warning people about criminals in our midst.)

But I do know that in this day and age, when information (true or otherwise) can spread faster than wildfires, it's good to check.