Recently, eight rumors in the first half of 20 15 released by the official rumor center of WeChat have attracted much attention. The widely forwarded "health posts" such as "boiler water is easy to cause cancer", "the black stripes on the bottom of toothpaste can't be used" and "genetically modified toxic" have all been confirmed as rumors. Why did the WeChat circle of friends become the rumor "hardest hit"? How to puncture the pseudoscience of friends circle?
Creating fear is the usual trick of rumors.
To sum up, rumors often have the following characteristics:
1. Around the theme of death anxiety. A few days ago, the Big Data Communication Laboratory of Sun Yat-sen University launched a new issue of "WeChat" Rumors Analysis Report ". The report analyzes the rumors and ***600 articles of the top 100 in the official WeChat account from April, 1965 to June, 5, 1965. The top rumors are: health and wellness, diseases, money, personal safety, politics, policy-related, social order, and asking for help, among which "health food".
2. Exaggerate assertions with figures. Rumor mongers like to use exaggerated words such as "100%" and "first" with a large number of pictures to arouse people's fear of death. According to a statistic of Sun Yat-sen University last year, more than a quarter (27%) of rumors used the numbers "100%" and "first". These figures seem objective, but there is no authoritative source, just to highlight their accuracy by means of data, so as to achieve the effect of exaggeration and assertion.
3. Pretend to be authoritative. Many rumors usually pretend to be experts, such as the National Cancer Institute in the United States and oncologists in Canada, and then convince readers to believe them. At the same time, carefully package with professional terms, and use professional terms such as hormone promotion technology, antibiotics, vulcanization accelerators, etc. Make these rumors seem well-founded.
4. Match the pictures to create "Seeing is believing". Statistics show that these rumors are accompanied by an average of 3.56 pictures. Because the audience generally believe that "seeing is believing", these pictures often leave a strong impression on people.
5. Grasp the audience's fear appeal. Related words such as disfigurement, toxicity, carcinogenesis and death are often used, supported by stolen pictures and randomly fabricated data, which often cause readers to panic. People tend to adopt the conservative psychology of "believing in it rather than believing in it", and dare not ignore or deny such news easily.
Eight health rumors in the circle of friends in the first half of the year
A few days ago, WeChat Rumor Center and others published eight rumors in the circle of friends in the first half of the year, including "boiler water is easy to cause cancer", "garlic is used to identify gutter oil", "toothpaste has black stripes at the bottom that can't be used", "all kinds of foods are compatible with each other", "homemade fruit enzymes are harmful to slimming and beautifying", "meatballs are all additives", "core boiling water can cure diabetes" and "genetically modified toxic". According to WeChat, users may often see various common sense of life and health shared by friends and relatives in the circle of friends. But these "common sense" are not all so reliable. The above rumors have been included in the WeChat rumor center.
Rumor 1
Boiling water is easy to cause cancer.
It is said that the concentration of heavy metals and nitrates in the leftover pot water repeatedly used for steaming steamed bread will increase, and nitrates will be decomposed into nitrite when heated, which is very harmful to human body.
The truth is that nitrite itself does not cause cancer, but only when it is converted into nitrosamines, and the conversion requires many preconditions, not boiling water. In addition, as long as the water meets the national standards, the nitrate content is very low, and repeated heating will not produce nitrate out of thin air, which is harmless to the human body.
Proverbs 2
Identification of waste oil with garlic
The simplest way to detect whether to use waste oil is gossip: put a peeled garlic when cooking. If garlic turns red, it is gutter oil. In addition, freezing can also facilitate the detection of waste oil.
The fact is that these methods are very unreliable. There is no scientific basis for aflatoxin to change color when it meets garlic. In addition, even if aflatoxin in gutter oil is qualified, it does not mean safety. Freezing detection method may not only "misjudge" good oil, but also "let go" bad oil.
Proverbs 3
Toothpaste has black stripes on the bottom and can't be used.
The color bar at the bottom of the rumor toothpaste indicates the ingredients of the toothpaste: green represents pure nature; Red means half is natural and half is chemical; Black means all chemical components, and using toothpaste with black stripes is drug abuse.
Truth toothpaste is not classified by natural or chemical ingredients. The color at the bottom of the toothpaste is only a mark on the production line, which is to help toothpaste peeling, pattern printing and electric eye quality inspection and proofreading.
Proverbs 4. All kinds of foods are compatible with each other.
It is rumored that some common foods, such as persimmon and crab, shrimp and fruit, soybean milk and eggs, can cause discomfort and poisoning when mixed together.
The mainstream opinion in the field of truth nutrition denies the saying that "food is compatible". Scientists have verified the common compatibility of "food is compatible", and none of them hold water. The so-called "pilgrims" are mostly caused by unclean diet and a few special allergic reactions, so the general public need not worry about it in their lives.
Proverbs 5 Homemade Enzyme Fitness Beauty
It is rumored that if you want to lose weight and beauty, you can make fruit enzymes at home.
In order to play the positive role of fruit in health, eating fruit is the most direct, simple and effective method.
Proverbs 6 meatballs are additives and harmful.
It is rumored that the price of many meatballs is significantly lower than that of raw meat, and there is no meat at all. They are all made of starch with some gum and essence.
Truth merchants and enterprises must honestly identify ingredients, and never install meat without meat. However, whether meatballs have meat or not has nothing to do with safety. Meat-free bionic meatballs are mostly made of soybean protein and starch, which is more suitable for people who need to control their weight and prevent the three highs.
Proverbs 7. Boiling the water in the core can cure diabetes.
It is rumored that diabetes has been eliminated. Prepare papaya seeds, litchi seeds and pig bones, fry two bowls, one at noon and one at night, and take 20 pairs continuously. Most patients' blood sugar levels returned to normal.
The research on hypoglycemic activity of litchi seed is still in the primary stage of animal pharmacology, which is not enough to prove that it can effectively treat diabetes. Moreover, the operations such as crushing and extraction used in the experiment are also very different from the simple boiling water at home. If diabetic patients believe in folk remedies and interrupt regular treatment, it may aggravate the progress of the disease.
Proverbs 8 Genetically modified organisms are toxic.
Rumor The American Academy of Environmental Medical Sciences issued a report saying: "Some animal experiments show that eating genetically modified foods has the risk of serious damage to health."
The truth is that the Committee of the American Institute of Environmental Medicine has not been recognized by the American Medical Professional Committee. The legitimacy and authority of the organization are controversial, and it has not published any other information except the toxicity of genetically modified organisms, so its credibility is extremely low. Other genetically modified hazards mentioned in rumors have long been proved to be rumors.