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Don’t fuel rumors through belief
Published Tuesday, March 17, 2009
One rumor can destroy and cause a standstill. We saw the manifestation of the danger of idle rumors Tuesday in Selma when telephones began ringing from anxious shoppers who wanted to know how safe Wal-Mart shopping was for the day.
Apparently, the telephone callers had bought into an urban legend that the parking lot of the Selma store would be a battle ground for gang initiation. Now, if they had only stopped to think. First of all, any reasonable person would have picked up the telephone and called Wal-Mart. A reporter for The Selma Times-Journal did so, just minutes after the first report of “something hazardous going on at the store.” The manager assured us Wal-Mart was safe, secure and business as usual.
But the rumors kept flying and becoming more and more violent. Finally, around 6 p.m., someone called to ask if someone held hostages inside the store.
A little common sense goes a long way. There’s no need to panic or spread wild rumors without basic knowledge of what’s going on. Relying on he said to her and she said to someone who told me is only asking for trouble.
If something were afoot, law enforcement authorities would be the first to send out an alert and your media outlets would keep you informed.
Summer is just around the corner. That’s when a good many of these rumors get started. Let’s not make a habit of this. It hurts our community.
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Comments
Posted by M_Davies (anonymous) on March 17, 2009 at 10:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PSSSST Here is a good rumor. I heard that there will be ghosts making an appearance this Friday and Saturday night in Live Oak Cemetery!!!
I also heard that they each have something to say!
Hope to see you all there!
Posted by fleur (anonymous) on March 17, 2009 at 10:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
brrrrrrrrrrrrr Can't wait!!!!
Posted by BIGKUNTRY (anonymous) on March 17, 2009 at 10:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
OMG... when will people grow up.. Im so glad i moved out of selma. I heard some thing one time that best fits selma. " if you dont know what you are doing, just ask some one because it seams they know before you do" Selma is about as worse as a group of high school chearleeders... Learn to stop speading rumors and learn to mind you own.
Posted by fleur (anonymous) on March 18, 2009 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, c'mon "Bigkuntry" I get this sort of garbage in my "inbox" all the time from people who live in the "BIG" towns.
There are little groups of people all over the place who fuel this stuff, and telling them that they are wrong is useless. Selma is not alone in this. Try listening in on the lunchtime and break-time conversations among ANY group of office-workers ANYWHERE! You will hear the same sort of stories. OFten it's the SAME story, just with the location changed to fit their town and circumstances. Somebody always insists that "somebody they know was actually there!!!"
Leesha has done us all a good turn with this editorial. We have to learn to stop sometimes and question what we hear. Rumours can get in the way of dealing with a REAL issue!
Posted by qt182rach (anonymous) on March 18, 2009 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually this isn't something going around in only Selma. This is a nationwide rumor started by one dumb, bored person and it spread like wildfire. Its been going around since 2005, but just was reignited. Its going around in Talahassee, Savannah, Demopolis, El Paso and some small town in New Mexico where police were even called out to high school to investigate a rumor of girls who were going to shoot at the local Wal-Mart.
Check out snopes.com/crime.
http://www.wtoctv.com/Global/story.asp?S...
http://www.demopolistimes.com/news/2009/...
http://www.albanyherald.com/stories/2009...
Posted by argumentsaroundselma (anonymous) on March 21, 2009 at 6:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
These rumors are started by a bunch of teenagers who need to grow up and they have nothing better else to do. If there was something for people to do in Selma nothing like this would ever go on.
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