The Internet Hoax About Johnny Depp

The internet world is abuzz with rumors that Johnny Depp has died, perhaps in a car crash. The rumor originated on Twitter and it caught fire all over. You could see it on blogs and if you searched for latest news, you could find this as the latest news too. It originated from a fake Angelfire website, which showed a spoof CNN page and showed news dated March 25, 2004 that he had died. There are news reports that perhaps CNN page was hacked but I doubt it. This is simply a hoax news item or someone who played an online prank. Or someone who wanted to drive traffic. However, any one's death, even a celebrity's, is not a laughing matter.

I am surprised at the speed with which the hoax spreads. It is one thing to think about the motives of the prankster but that's not even important. What is really important here is: Why do we have so many hoax celebrity death rumors? Another important point to be considered here is: How is it that such rumors spread with such speed?

Have we become too gullible as a people after the unchecked mushrooming of the internet? What are the reasons? Sometimes, even mainstream media falls prey to rumors.

In fact, this is quite like the old days, without the internet, when people believed in rumors and they caught fire. So, the first thing is not to believe any such celebrity death rumor and if you think, there's any credence in it, please crosscheck it before spreading it yourself. Suppose, you find such a tweet or a message at Facebook, don't mindlessly forward it or retweet it because by doing so, you are unwittingly helping the person who originated the rumor.

Another important thing has to do with personal attitude. Why should we be so involved with celebrity lives? I feel we have too engrossed with the personal lives of celebrities and everything that involves them. Some of the blame should be shared by the mainstream media too because they are the ones who started the trend. We just seem to give the celebs a lot of print in newspapers, in electronic media all the time. We seem too bothered about their coughs and fevers. Some of this began with Paris Hilton, who is a thorough exhibitionist. That's not important. Let's stop it and let the celebrities enjoy their peace too.