Misinformation Chain

[Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in the Peninsula Pulse in 2007. While years may have passed, it seems that in the day and age of Facebook, Twitter, as well as the Internet and email, that the message still applies.]

Those of you who use the Internet with any regularity have probably heard the admonition that you shouldn’t believe everything you read or find on the web. While this is certainly sound advice, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that you shouldn’t believe everything you receive in your email – no matter who sends it to you.

For example, at least 99 percent of the emails I receive warning me of some new virus are bogus. No company, anywhere on the planet, is going to send you a check, just for forwarding on an email to everyone you know. No one’s “wish” is going to come true and no one’s “luck” is going to change simply by forwarding more email. And I seriously doubt that God is going to bless anyone more than he already does because they have access to email and know how to use the “forward” button on their browser.

With that personal rant out of the way, the following email is the real subject of this column. This one has been making the email rounds for over ten years. Read this one carefully.

If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans; 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

8 Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be non-white

30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian

30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual

11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

The apparent reaction of most of the people who received this email was “Wow,” and they simply turned around and forwarded it to everyone they knew…who, presumably, turned around and forwarded it to everyone they knew, etc. Soon, not only is everyone enamored with this email, they actually believe everything it states and that, folks, is the problem. Someone even went so far as to publish this info in a small illustrated book! Without bogging down in more numbers than the room for this column allows, here are a few of the many errors in the information listed above:

• According to the population breakdowns from the United Nations and the latest World Almanac, our theoretical community of 100 souls would actually include 60 Asians, 12 Europeans, 15 from the Western Hemisphere (including North America, Latin America, Caribbean, and Oceania), and 13 from Africa.

• While there are more women than men in the world, the ratios, adjusted down to our theoretical community are closer to 50 men and 50 women.

• The question of “white” and “non-white” I’m not going to dignify by attempting to correct. I can only assume that whoever penned this email made the rather startling assumption that continents are homogenous and, since they only offer breakdowns for “whites,” my suspicion is that the author is a bigot.

• Most references place the number of Christians in the world at roughly 33 percent of the population, thus our tiny village would have 33 Christians.

• The question of sexual orientation is again problematic. No reliable information exists anywhere as to the number of homosexuals worldwide. Indeed, even estimates range widely.

• The “wealth” fact is simply wrong. In the first place, using the figures for population that we used to adjust the first factoid in the email, the number of individuals from the United States in this village would be five not six. Secondly, the United States accounts for 23 percent of the world’s wealth, not 59 percent, and it seems unlikely that any combination could be achieved that would ever equal 59 percent.

• The question of sub-standard housing is rather meaningless without some definition of what the author considers sub-standard housing.

• The best estimates of illiteracy in the world vary between 16 and 20 percent; nowhere near the 70 percent claimed in the email.

• Malnutrition worldwide is considered to be between 30 and 35 percent.

• Skipping the “near death/near birth” fact as too vague to consider, we are left with college education and computer ownership. Almost 1/3 of the American population has a college degree, which – in our model – would mean almost 2 from America alone (and other countries have higher rates). As for computers, 50 percent of American households own a computer, so if households equates to individuals in the model village, the Americans would have two computers between them.

So, this “stirring” manifesto, which continues to circulate on the email circuit (though the book seems to have blissfully disappeared), is almost completely inaccurate. Why then are people so ready to believe what it says (and eager to hit the forward button on their browser)? My suspicion is that the “have-nots,” or those who perceive themselves as “have-nots,” look at this information as a vindication for how they feel about themselves and their lives. Those who are “haves,” or who perceive themselves as “haves,” look at this information and feel a sense of guilt (at least long enough to hit the forward button).

So, folks, there is a lesson to be learned here: yes, the Internet is filled with misinformation, but you have to go find it in order to be misinformed. Your email, on the other hand, more than likely contains an equal (or greater amount) of misinformation and, in this case, the misinformation finds you. It is therefore your responsibility to determine the validity of the information before you mindlessly click the “Forward” button and burden everyone you know with your ignorance.