From the Mailbag...

Please Tell Me I'm Not Crazy!!!

Dear Guide:
     I am thoroughly confused. I thought, for sure, that there was a well documented urban legend about the Nestle corporation. I remember it in Junior High. We were all told to boycott Nestle because they had conspired to provide powdered infant formula to third world mothers. However, the formula was substandard, and by the time that mothers would figure this out, their own breastmilk would be depleted.
     Please tell me I'm not crazy!!!

Dear Reader:
     You're not crazy (based on the evidence at hand, that is).
     If what you remember hearing is that Nestle was boycotted because its product is "substandard," I'd say the rumor qualifies as an urban legend.
     Nestle has indeed been the target of major boycotting efforts over the years, and it still is, but over its marketing practices in developing countries, not the quality of its products.
     Here's a list of charges made against the company, courtesy of a group called Baby Food Action:

• Nestle and Wyeth provide free milk to maternity hospitals in the Third World so that newborn babies are routinely bottle-fed. When newborn babies are given bottles, they are less able to suckle well. This makes breastfeeding failure likely. The baby is then dependent on artificial milk.
• When the mother and baby leave hospital, the milk is no longer free. At home parents are forced to buy more milk, which can cost 50% of the family income. Because the milk is so expensive the child is not fed enough. This leads to malnutrition.
• The water mixed with the formula is often contaminated. This leads to diarhhoea, malnutrition and often death. James Grant, Executive Officer of UNICEF, has said: "Every day some 3,000 to 4,000 infants die because they are denied access to adequate breast milk."
• 1.5 million babies die every year from unsafe bottle feeding.
• Breast feeding is free and safe and protects against infection - but companies know that unless they get babies on the bottle, they don't do business.

Dear Guide:
     Hi, my name is Hannah and I was just wondering where you get your information about chain letters. I was looking through the Net to see if I could find something confirming my suspicions about the David Lawitts letter and your page has it. I want to recommend this site to all the people who sent me the chain letter so they'll know it's fake but I just wanted to know if your info is your own opinions or if you have facts to back you up.

Dear Reader:
     Well, it's a combination of facts and common sense. To see how I came to my conclusions about the Lawitts letter, check out my recent feature, Anatomy of a Hoax.
     There's no mystery to tearing these things apart. Anybody can do it. Just follow these three rules:
     1) Always read the text more than once. These letters are devised to play on our emotions. On a second or third reading, you begin to see through it.
     2) Read the text closely, noting all inconsistencies and statements that don't make sense.
     3) Do research on factual statements made in the text to see if they can be substantiated.
     Remember that the burden of credibility rests with the letter, not you. You needn't prove every single sentence of it false in order to dismiss the whole thing. All you really have to find is one "fatal error."
     For example, if the letter claims to have something to do with, say, donations to cancer research, and if it names a particular charitable organization in that connection, its credibility drops to zero if you discover that the organization doesn't exist, or that it doesn't authorize chain letters. Anything else you manage to disprove is gravy.

Dear Guide:
     Hello. I, too, have heard about the Disney legends. Have you heard the one in Aladdin? When he is on the balcony talking to the Princess, he says "take off your clothes" you can hear it when the genie is a bee, I think. It's somewhere in that scene. Email me. I would like to know if I am the only one who knows about this. Thanks for your time.

Dear Reader:
     Yes, I've heard the Aladdin legend. It's false. If you listen closely, what the character actually says is: "Take off and go."
     You can read all about it (plus hear sound clips of what Aladdin really says) at the Urban Legends Reference Pages. You'll find other great Disney legends there, as well.

Dear Guide:
     Re: misinformation highway. the transference of information via the internet is indeed still a hands-on practice -- to claim that it is just simple transfering of information "untouched by human hands" is ridiculous and paranoid. the source is still human, it is still generated by the human mind, soul, heart... as such, the internet is just another method of, yes, transmitting information -- not unlike speech over a telephone, or over any space no matter how intimate or, inversely, isolated. it (the net) contains the promise of forming a new language of images and voice -- of shared experience. why not try to guide it to the best of possibilities rather than stand by and watch it fall apart?

Dear Reader:
     I'll admit to having been a bit sardonic in the concluding few sentences of that article, but you've misread me if you think I want to "stand by and watch [the possibilities of the Internet] fall apart." Quite the opposite.
     For one thing, here I am, actively participating in the medium. By choice! For another, I made a rather strong moral statement in that article: that individuals ought to take responsibility and be held accountable for the information that passes through their computer. I meant it.
     The closing sentences were not a declaration of apathy, although I see how they might be misread that way. I was just trying to acknowledge, after having taken my stand, that the vagaries of human nature most often undercut any simple moral solutions to our problems. And in that regard, there truly is nothing new under the sun.

Dear Guide:
     This is a LEGAL, MONEY-MAKING PHENOMENON.
     PRINT this letter, read the directions, THEN READ IT AGAIN !!!
     You are about to embark on the most profitable and unique program you may ever see. Many times over, it has demonstrated and proven its ability to generate large amounts of cash. This program is showing fantastic appeal with a huge and ever-growing on-line population desirous of additional income.
     This is a legitimate, LEGAL, money-making opportunity. It does not require you to come in contact with people, do any hard work, and best of all, you never have to leave the house, except to get the mail and go to the bank!

Dear Reader:
     Somebody's playing a very sick joke on me, right?

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