Rumors and Hoaxes: Harmlees or Harmful?

Rumors and hoaxes are a part of everyday life. There are rumors and hoaxes that are perpetuated with a family. For example, there seems to always be rumors about who in a family is dating someone nice or mean, rumors about which family is getting married or which family member is pregnant. Rumors and hoaxes are always in the newspapers and magazines. Many newspapers and magazines write stories about people who are getting sued and also people who are suing other people. Even though rumors and hoaxes happen and are reported in some fashion everyday, I think for the most part that rumors and hoaxes are false and hurtful to most people.

Celebrities are always the subject of rumors and hoaxes. Sometimes the celebrities start the rumors so that they will get attention whether it is positive or negative attention. This is because it seems that celebrities like either kind of attention because it keeps them in the headlines. For example, when a famous singing stars cry about wishing to be left alone regarding rumors about their personal lives, it seems like in truth, by complaining about people bothering them, they really wish people to bother them because rumors keep celebrities in the news and on people’s mind.

There have songs about rumors throughout the years. In fact, there is a celebrity that wrote a song called Rumors in which she proclaims that she is sick and tired of the rumors that have been started regarding her personal life. While I think that rumors are a part of celebrity life so they need to get use to them, I also believe that rumors are harmful and hurtful to the person that the rumors are about and society in general. This because society needs to express individuality of opinions while at the same time it needs to come together to form a cohesive group of people. Rumors and hoaxes don’t seem to move either goal to its desired end.

There are many rumors concerning eating disorders and celebrities. And, many of them have denied having an eating disorder by claiming that all that is wrong involves not eating healthy meals or not having time to eat much because of their busy schedules. It seems like the more famous people become the more that they are the subject and target of many rumors and hoaxes. In fact, recently, a young and beautiful Oscar nominated actress became a target of rumors that she had an eating disorder. She denied the claims of an eating disorder but claimed that at least because of the rumor people are talking about the problem of eating disorder. If many celebrities do have eating disorders, spreading rumors about them having eating disorders doesn’t help them to get healthy. Therefore, it is the case that rumors and hoaxes are harmful and hurtful.

There have not been many hoaxes that I am aware of. However, the most famous hoax that I have heard of involved Orson Wells and War of the Worlds. Orson Wells went on radio and claimed that Martians had invaded Earth and this statement frightened many people. In fact, Orson Wells had to go on the radio and tell everyone that Martians were not evading Earth and that it was a hoax. Therefore, this seems to be further proof that rumors and hoaxes are harmful and hurtful.

1