During the 2008 presidential election, the Internet became a giant rumor mill. For example, there were the ___1___ claiming that Barack Obama’s birth certificate was a fake. Or ones spreading the phony Sarah Palin quote, “God made dinosaurs 4,000 years ago”.
Some political scholars worry the Web could ___2___, by misinforming and polarizing voters. But Web sites and blogs don’t serve up the most influential rumors. Our in-boxes do. So says a study of e-mail in the journal Human Communication Research. [R. Kelly Garrett, "Troubling Consequences of Online Political Rumoring"]
Just after the election, researcher R. Kelly Garrett randomly surveyed 600 Americans about their online habits, and whether they'd heard—and believed—a number of widespread rumors. He found that the Web does expose us to more rumors. But the Web also delivers more rebuttals, which can ___3___.
E-mail’s more insidious. Because you’re more likely to believe that rumor ___4___ by cousin Rob. And the more you believe something, Garrett says, the more you want to share it with your social network—___5___.
So before you hit SEND to forward e-mail, ask yourself: Do I know the item I'm sharing is true, or do I just want it to be?

【視聽(tīng)版科學(xué)小組榮譽(yù)出品】
viral e-mails undermine democracy even the field forwarded spawning a nasty cascade of misperception
2008年美國(guó)大選期間,互聯(lián)網(wǎng)成了大型謠言工廠。比如說(shuō),就有人利用郵件大肆宣稱奧巴馬的出生證明是偽造的;再比如說(shuō),有人假冒薩拉佩林揚(yáng)言“4000年前上帝造出了恐龍”╮(╯_╰)╭ 一些政治學(xué)者擔(dān)心人們利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳播虛假信息、分化選舉人會(huì)給國(guó)家的民主政治帶來(lái)不利影響。不過(guò)《人類傳播研究》上的一篇報(bào)告指出,最可怖的謠言散布者不是網(wǎng)頁(yè)或是博客,而是——郵件。 大選一結(jié)束,加瑞特就隨機(jī)對(duì)600名美國(guó)人的上網(wǎng)愛(ài)好以及對(duì)網(wǎng)上謠言的聽(tīng)信度進(jìn)行了調(diào)查。加瑞特發(fā)現(xiàn)網(wǎng)頁(yè)謠傳確實(shí)數(shù)量驚人,但反駁謠言的也不占少數(shù),幾乎與前者持平。 而郵件則更令人防不勝防,因?yàn)槿藗兏菀紫嘈艔挠H戚朋友那里轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)來(lái)的消息。加瑞特說(shuō),人們?cè)绞菍?duì)某事信以為真,就越想通過(guò)社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)和他人分享——謠傳也就如滔滔江水,連綿不絕了~ 所以說(shuō)在你轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)郵件之前先得問(wèn)問(wèn)自己:這是真的假的?我要讓它成為事實(shí)嗎?