Friend Hoaxed, Should I Tell?

[TromboneAl]

Last Wednesday, the 25-year-old sax player in my group showed me the stainless steel water bottle that he had just purchased. He spent an extra $4 for a stainless steel top for it.

"I figure it's worth $40 to avoid getting cancer." he told me.

Note that $40 is $10 more than he was getting for the gig that night, and he relies on music for much of his income.

I'm guessing that he was a victim of this hoax:

Email Hoaxes:Your plastic water bottle will give you cancer!

So the question is, should I tell him about the hoax?

 

[REWahoo]

I vote no. My experience is folks get defensive when you point out this sort of thing, regardless of how diplomatically to attempt to present the information. It might be different if it was something more significant, but for $40 bucks I'd let it pass.

 

[Orchidflower]

I agree with REWahoo on this one totally. Let it go for $40. Something bigger...then I would tell him.

 

[boutros]

If he used to use a Nalgene or similar bottle he could be referring to this


November/December 2003 - Sierra Magazine - Sierra Club

I use polycarbonate bottles like Nalgene but hand wash them so I am not too concerned.

 

[W2R]

He has already made the decision and spent the money. If you told him about the hoax, it would imply that his decision was stupid (which in fact, it probably was). There really isn't anything he can do about it now, anyway.

So if I was that guy, even if I realized you were right I would be offended that you felt you had to tell me and essentially rub my face in the fact that I made a poor decision. It would seem like a domination game.

Now, if he tells you that he is thinking about a future stupid purchase like that, then I would tell him!!

Oh, and another thought - - maybe he just really likes the look of the bottle, and is using the cancer idea as a way to justify his purchase. On his income, it would seem stupid to spend so much on a water bottle, otherwise. I think we all have made purchases that were too extravagant at times, simply because we happened to be entranced with whatever it is. And then we start looking for excuses!

 

[Gsquared]

It's a good opportunity to introduce him to Urban Legends Reference Pages.

 

[FinallyRetired]

I agree with those who advice you to let it go. Here's another aspect. Suppose you tell him it's a hoax and years down the road, heaven forbid, he gets cancer. Even though it had nothing to do with the bottle, what will he be thinking?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!

Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

next you'll be telling the world that bodies don't rise from the dead.

at intermission of "the wicked" the other night my cousin tells me that her friend is wearing shoes which are supposed to somehow reduce her cellulite. i hope i whispered softly enough when i commented that they didn't seem to be working.

 

[dex]

next you'll be telling the world that bodies don't rise from the dead.

at intermission of "the wicked" the other night my cousin tells me that her friend is wearing shoes which are supposed to somehow reduce her cellulite. i hope i whispered softly enough when i commented that they didn't seem to be working.

You went to a movie theater that had an intermission?
Really?
How long was it?
I only remember them between double features a long time ago.

 

[Moemg]

I say Let it go . If he talks about sending money to Nigeria however clue him in .

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

consider this: do you want to be responsible for denying your friends any possible psychosomatic benefit of their beliefs?

i have an cousin who lives in lalaland and though i have tried to guide her in application alone, i have never tried to dissuade her from her core beliefs. as long as someone isn't proselytizing, i've got no issues. live and let live. but when idiot cousin tells me that my mother "brought alzheimer's upon herself" because she was worried that she might one day get it (having already buried her father of it), that is when she asks to be set straight.

 

[bright eyed]

Was the hoax that he paid $40 for a $10-15 bottle?

I'm also concerned about the plastics and have read a lot about polycarbonate since it is also in baby bottles. So my kiddos get stainless steal kiddy bottles for water/juice and that's it. i'm not sure they'll get cancer but don't want to add more elements into the equation if i don't have to.

Was he just exaggerating the cancer part or did he believe a + b = cancer?

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!

Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!

Lol Man I might want to buy one of those with that sales pitch.

 

[CCdaCE]

2 uses for that custom piano bench.

Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!

Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!

Has a double use, in the bedroom, if the legs are only about 9" long and your woman is [-]lazy[/-] always complaining about being on top (because you're lazy, too).

-CC

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

You went to a movie theater that had an intermission?
Really?
How long was it?
I only remember them between double features a long time ago.

really? cretin shoots a cheap shot (pause) & misses? really? wicked's not a movie? really? it's a play? really? intermissions? really? get real, really!

click quicklink
click control panal
click ignore list
add "dex"
save list
problem solved

 

[soupcxan]

really? cretin shoots a cheap shot (pause) & misses? really? wicked's not a movie? really? it's a play? really? intermissions? really? get real, really!

click quicklink
click control panal
click ignore list
add "dex"
save list
problem solved

Wow, it's like watching two 12 year olds in a slapfight.

 

[HFWR]

Wow, it's like watching two 12 year olds in a slapfight.

Only two...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

He started it!

 

[HFWR]

Did not!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Avocado!

I'll have to go back and re-read the thread now, I missed something...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Avocado!

I'll have to go back and re-read the thread now, I missed something...

No bacon was harmed in the previous posts.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Wow, it's like watching two 12 year olds in a slapfight.

i leave myself open. i get sucker punched. do not be surprised when i get up, brush myself off, and get the bastid. care to trivialize that as well?

Only two...

thank you, my hero.

He started it!

nya nya

Avocado!

I'll have to go back and re-read the thread now, I missed something...

you'd have to go back to a past post where the creep came out of the woodwork to tell me to drop dead. if he doesn't like me, why does he bother reading my schtick?



i like the internet. i like forums in general and this one in particular. i like a lot of the people i cybermeet here. i like a lot of the ideas tossed around and i like how many express themselves.

but you take a chance online. i've said it before: some of these people i'd shoot if i saw them trespass in my frontyard. it is not easy to have them on my desk. i don't like the ignore feature in principle but i think i am going to love it in application.

 

[haha]

i have an cousin who lives in lalaland and though i have tried to guide her in application alone, i have never tried to dissuade her from her core beliefs. as long as someone isn't proselytizing, i've got no issues. live and let live. but when idiot cousin tells me that my mother "brought alzheimer's upon herself" because she was worried that she might one day get it (having already buried her father of it), that is when she asks to be set straight.

I have a friend like this. At age 55 she has no job, no pension and little SS. She does have a pretty good nest egg from an inheritance which she kept from her greedy ex when they split the sheets. This is her sole support.

I gently suggested to her that she buy a health insurance policy. She won't.

Why? To do this would "invite illness into her life."

In a general way I also believe that positive thinking is important; but people can sometimes make strange extensions of an otherwise reasonable principle.

Ha

 

[CCdaCE]

Insert some religion and a dash of politics into that story and I think we have a perfect clusterf....

Nevermind.

-CC