The Speed of Cyberspace

There have been recent carjackings taking place in our city. One of these instances happened to a women who teaches Sunday School in our department. This really hit home for us. She was blessed to have escaped in her vehicle, but not before two men with bandanna's covering their faces, waved guns at her to coax her to get out of the car. On Sunday morning she shared her story and urged women to be careful driving after 9pm. She told us to remember to use your horn, putting your car in reverse if you can't drive forward, and to try as hard as you can to get away. And to always drive with your doors locked.

On Monday morning, someone else from our department sent out an email warning those she loved, to be careful. This person got her information second hand and like I so often do, got the facts messed up. Unfortunately, there was a quote she wrote by my husband that he never said and that made this fearful situation, sound even worse than it really was.

In one day, this email circulated all throughout our city, reaching Harris County, AFLAC, Synovus, the Tidwell Cancer Center, the Police Department, the District Attorney's office, the local school district and many churches, to name just a few. People got this email not just once, but some as many as three or four times! To top it all off, my husband got a call today from our local newspaper. They are going to write an article about the email and wanted to verify the facts he supposedly said! My hope is that the article will get the facts correct this time and rumors and implications will be put to an end.

Guess how many people were sent the original email? Three people! She sent it to her step mother, her sister in law and her best friend, all of which live in the neighborhood that the almost carjacking took place. From three people, this email was infiltrated everywhere. She had no idea the snowball effect that would come. She was only trying to warn those to be careful and didn't mean to get her facts wrong. Unfortunately for my husband, he had to answer numerous phone calls from people asking questions to the facts of the email. Those who know him, knew he would never tell a lie, but most did not know him. His integrity was put on the line and he had to try and convince people he never said the things in the email.

Three people. That's all it took. I'm not writing to tell you about one person's mistake, because any of us could have easily done the same thing. I learned yesterday just how fast something can go through cyberspace and how dangerous the results can be. Please think before you ever forward an email and if facts just don't sound right-chances are they aren't.