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Setting the record straight


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The Internet has really become a catch-all for the whims and schemes of PC users. Every week there is a new viral video out there, attracting millions of hits. Almost as frequently, a new hoax apppears which a visit to the Snopes site will debunk. E-Mail scams are every day occurrences, concocted to steal your money or your identity. The cyber world is a parallel existence that doesn't necessarily coincide with reality or truth. :unsure:

There is a video currently making the rounds that claims to be Little Richard as a child. As soon as I saw this performance I knew it was a crock of misinformation because I recognized the piano prodigy as someone I remembered from back in the day, and after doing some research, I was able to confirm my doubts. The links I have provided below might be of interest to anyone fascinated with how "ignorance" can take on a life of its own. :blink:

http://www.wimp.com/oldschool/

Now, enter this phrase into your search engine: The Video that is not Little Richard as a Child Performer, or, ...

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Cynique, about 30 years ago an old guy told me that his father told him, "Don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see". Later I discovered that was not an original line, but that did not make it any less true.

The problem today is hyper-exaggerrated. I literarly don't believe anything I read online unless it has been verified by multiple independent sources. The Internet is simply rife with lies and distortions posing as truth -- anyone can write anything. Truth is mixed with fiction and the result is a complete mess. People even treat Wikipedia as if it is a real encyclopedia.

Everything most be verified -- even then it is tough to get it right. But since there are fewer good journalists and business models to support them, the problem will just get worse.

BTW that was a cute kid -- whoever he was :-)

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The little guy in the video is Frank "Sugar Chile" Robinson who was a piano prodigy back in the 1940s. Wikipedia contains what appears to be an accurate bio of him and his career, and where he is today. During that decade, he was quite popular and that's why I remembered him. I am just a few years older than he and back then I was quite impressed by his talent and the fame that it brought him. :o

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  • 4 weeks later...

I literarly don't believe anything I read online unless it has been verified by multiple independent sources. The Internet is simply rife with lies and distortions posing as truth -- anyone can write anything. Truth is mixed with fiction and the result is a complete mess. People even treat Wikipedia as if it is a real encyclopedia.

I have come across self perpetuating urban myths in chain e-mails that seem to never die (half truth about Denzil at a veteran hospital, Oprah/Hilfiger, Willie Lynch, Bill Gates/Microsoft free money, etc, etc...). It's amazing how people are taken in by these things. No research, verification or usage of common sense. I don't get it.....

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