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How to Use Google to Expose Urban Legends
A couple of days ago, I was reading a blog that had a post commemorating the life of George Carlin. The author had attributed a short literary piece entitled The Paradox of Our Time to George Carlin. I vaguely remembered reading this exact same story in an email that had been forwarded to me from my mother some time ago. The only difference was that it had been written by a student from Columbine High School.
I found it interesting that this version of the story was prefaced with the following text:
Isn’t it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70’s and 80’s - could write something so very eloquent…and so very appropriate. Excerpts from A Message By George Carlin:
I immediately used Google to try to find out who had really written this vignette. A few moments later, I found myself at a reputable myth-debunking website, Snopes.com.
What I found out about this story was literally shocking! Not only had this story not been written by George Carlin, George actually had gotten quite upset about it. He said the following on his website (profanity removed):
One of the more embarrassing items making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of [crap] called “The Paradox of Our Time.” The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really [cares]? Certainly not me.
So who was it that wrote The Paradox of Our Time? The credit goes to a pastor by the name of Dr. Bob Moorehead. Although you may want to consider the following that the Snopes.com site has to say about Pastor Bob:
Those intent upon taking inspiration from “Paradox” should consider the following: during Bob Moorehead’s tenure as pastor of Overlake Christian Church, seventeen members of his congregation reported that he had sexually assaulted them. These allegations, which surfaced in 1997, prompted his resignation in 1998. After a year of publicly supporting Moorehead the church elders withdrew their support, their own investigation into the charges having led them to conclude their pastor had indeed been guilty of molesting a number of male churchgoers.
The Moral of the Story
I want to get across the fact that you can’t always believe what you read in your inbox. Even if it was sent to you by someone as loving as your own mother.
Also, if you are proactive, you will be able to find out on your own whether or not that amazing story you just heard is true or not.
How to Use Google to Expose Urban Legends
In order to find out whether the Paradox of Our Time was really written by George Carlin, I performed a site search of some different hoax-busting sites that I’ve found to be credible over the years.
I want to make it easier for the many Googlers out there to expose hoaxes though, so that you don’t have to type the following into a Google search box every time you want to uncover an urban legend:
site:http://www.snopes.com/ site:http://urbanlegends.about.com/ site:http://www.truthorfiction.com/ site:http://www.breakthechain.org/ site:http://www.hoaxkill.com/ site:http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/ site:http://www.vmyths.com/ site:http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/ site:http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ site:http://www.hoaxbusters.org/
site:http://www.urbanlegendsonline.com/ [Your Keywords Here]
Simple Search: Hoax Hunter
So I decided to create a custom Google search that will search all of those sites for you while only requiring you to enter your keywords. All you have to do is type in a few key words from the email or story you’ve received (such as the title), and let the Hoax Hunter go hunting for you.
You can go to the Hoax Hunter by clicking on the link here, or by going to the blue menu bar at the top of this page and hovering your mouse over Simple Search and then clicking on Hoax Hunter.
All you have to do then is type in a key word or name from the suspected hoax. For example, if you type in George Carlin, you will see the Paradox of Our Time hoax as the second and third search results, as shown below.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks for reading!
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