The Spread Of Rumors

People could be pretty subjective in choosing what to believe, even if they are not sure about the validity of a story or news, they may choose to believe and spread it in the way they interpret it. For instance, in the short story, the townspeople believed that there was something special in the workshop, and this false message attracted people from other places, such as

One thing everyone knows is when people gossip and the press gets a hold on a story, the story won’t be straight and it will be a distortion of the truth. Both can be manipulating, false advertised, and one-sided. Also, both can be just as bad as the other. It depends on your situation.

Rumors are something that we all know are constantly spreading everyday; however, most of us might not exactly know the specific effects that they can and do have on our social lives. In this article by Jesse Singal titled “How To Fight a Rumor” he writes to try and explain the effects that rumors have and different methods that some people have used to try and counter them. His thesis is that in order to combat rumors we must first learn about the inner workings of rumors themselves. He does this by using examples such as the 2008 presidential election, studies that have been conducted, and the research from those studies. These examples along with others combine to make his argument much more strong.

“How to Fight a Rumor” by Jesse Signal is an essay that gives information about rumors and how to fight them. The essay uses research from rumor researchers and gives different examples of how people deal with rumors. It also views rumors on a psychological level and looks into why people spread them. In the essay, Jesse Signal informs the reader why people spread rumors, how to fight rumors, and gives examples of how people deal with rumors.

Just like in the Salem Witch Trials people are believing everything they hear. No one is researching it they are just going with it.

Salmans main purpose is to inform her readers of current legal battles being pursued by Procter and Gamble in discrediting false rumors, which were causing a threat to the company 's sales and reputation. Salmans also debates the issue of rumors and provides actual opinions concerning the rumors from a variety of sources, mainly the prosecutors, defense and church ministers to provide the reader with opposite views. I believe that rumors are usually created due to rivalry, anger, jealousy or hate either amongst individuals or corporations. Rumors most often hinder a person character, beliefs or

The reason that these yellow presses can spread rumours so quickly is because people at that time don’t know that the “truth” they tell are not exactly what happened. People don’t know anything about it so it

In, “One Man’s Rumer I Another Man’s Reality, Gregory Rodriguez, an author of the Los Angeles Times he argues about the power of broadcasting the truth and its effect on the people. As a result, “can false rumors and off-the-wall theories be corrected by broadcasting the truth” (Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2009)?

However, if the news is based just on rumors, what would it be? It would turn out fake news. The recent memorable incident relating to the fake news would be during the 2016 US presidential campaign. In “The Journal of Economic Perspectives,” Enrico Moretti and Gordon Hanson state that fake news had some influence over the election result that Trump became the US president (Moretti and Hanson. 235). They also mention that they discover 41 articles which support Clinton or are against Trump and 115 articles which support Trump and are against Clinton (Moretti and Hanson. 225). These pro-Clinton articles were shared on Facebook 7.6 million times and these pro-Trump articles were shared 30.3 million times (Moretti and Hanson. 225). What makes surprising about this fact is those articles later turned out to be fake news. Before the news about Clinton’s scandals was leaked, there were much less of people who would vote for Trump and much less of fake news criticizing her. Nonetheless, her scandals came out, those fake news based on rumors increased the number. People read them out of their curiosity and shared them in a second.

“Users appear to be less capable of distinguishing true from false rumors… in fact, we show that the prevalent

Similarly, there has been spread of fake rumors which is “creating further cracks in the Trump administration's credibility and its ability to pursue his agenda” (Bowman) as stated by Astead W. Herndon and Annie

A rumor can be classified as a special case of informal social communications that include myth, legend, and current humor. Rumors have three basic characteristics to them. The first is mode transmission which is usually done through word of mouth. The second characteristic is that they provide information, ranging from a particular person, an event, or condition. Lastly, the third characteristic is that a rumor satisfies mythology, folklore, and humor. Rumors have the

Myths serve as a basis of authority on ethical and moral issues regarded as facts, for example, why people behave the way that they do, but include supernatural elements. Myths tell the origins of the world and humankind by relating them to human traditions and understanding a societies values and norms (pg. 31). Human psychology deals with mental processes and behavior of an individual, group, or activity. Ways that human psychology affects the nature of myths and the way we tell and perceive stories is by interpreting an analysis of myths as being symbolic and, in turn, this symbolism is rooted in the human mind, behavior and emotions. Psychologists, Freud, and Jung believed that myths (e.g. dreams) are said to be symbolically expressing

“By uniting us against a common enemy, fear also brings humans together. It has a preserve yet delicious binding quality. It's for this reason that we love to spread fearful rumors, sometimes blowing them out of all proportion just to heighten the sense of danger." (33. Brandwashed)

The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path of communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report.