My sister and I found a pangolin during our daily walk in our local woods. There we were just trying to get our daily steps in, soak in a few sun rays, burn some calories, and get a bit active and — boom — an endangered and assumed native African creature appeared within our view.
As we approached, the pangolin didn’t shy away. In fact, he met us halfway and seemed eager to meet us. This fantastical little creature was everything we ever dreamed of and more. His welcoming nature shows why the animals are so hard to find. Being too tame can be dangerous in the wild. For that reason, we will not give the exact location of the pangolin sighting. In an effort to preserve the few left on the planet, we hope no one else finds our magical little friend.
What’s that you say? You don’t believe me? GOOD — YOU SHOULDN’T. The point of this post is to remind you not to believe everything you read on the internet. Anyone can create an entire website, articles, memes, images with statistics, and even quotes to fit their agenda. ANYONE with internet access.
A Pangolin Found in Palos Hills
There’s a tiny bit of truth to this story. We DID find a pangolin in Palos Hills – ON THE INTERNET – on our phones while walking in the woods. But, you’d have to click on this post and really read it to eventually find the small truth of this title.
The inspiration to write this post comes from my personal Facebook feed. I log on to Facebook daily hoping to see what my friends and family are up to. What I end up finding are a bunch of shared bogus articles with nothing but click-bait titles and inaccurate content.
The amount of utter BS on the internet is alarming. Even news channels that I once considered trusted sources now have articles titled for shock value alone. You know what happens then? People only read the title and keep on scrolling. They are left angry from that title — only to go on about their day sharing that info with others — and that’s how anger is spread. It’s scary, to be honest. I used to trust most of the mainstream media channels, but that is dwindling.
What infuriates me even more are the bloggers that share random websites that are clearly attention-getters. We should know better to consider the source. If you click on a website and see nothing but pop ups and very little content, it’s pretty clear what they are after.
Finding real news seems to be more challenging than ever these days. It’s hard to spot info you can trust. I have shared bad articles myself. I am thankful when a friend points that out to me.
THIS IS REAL…
I hope this post acts as a reminder to double check the source, accuracy, and title relevancy when sharing articles online. Unfortunately, we do not have a new pangolin friend, but we do know about them now thanks to a legitimate article. And, yes, we are using a fake article to warn you about fake articles. But, at least it’s harmless. A lot of the “news” being shared is harmful and spurs anger and hatred instantly. Hopefully, our little pangolin makes you smile while we get our message out. 🙂
Visit here to learn about these majestic, threatened creatures. And SHARE THAT.
Sandy Weinstein
Saturday 31st of December 2016
i remember hearing abt this on the news. i did not know what in the world they were talking abt. there are so many false stories everywhere. the m monroe comment is funny. she was never on the internet when she was alive. .
Jennifer
Saturday 31st of December 2016
So many... it's hard to watch them get shared like crazy on social, too. :( Yeah, we made that quote to make a point. lol
Tamra Phelps
Thursday 17th of November 2016
My first thought was: What the heck is a pangolin? I agree about the fake news stories online (especially on Facebook.) ---I sincerely hope the long comment above about the Sandy Hook shootings being fake is someone trying to make a point about not believing everything you read online because if not, that does a great deal of harm to those who lost children that day.
Laura Tveras
Wednesday 16th of November 2016
Good grief. You had me at, "My sister and I found ..." Yep. I'm that gullible. Nicely written, and a necessary reminder that not all authors are as legit and honest as you two magical siblings!
Sarah L
Wednesday 16th of November 2016
Good article. I didn't even know what a pangolin was. I'm VERY skeptical about what I read on the internet.
Christina G.
Wednesday 16th of November 2016
LOL, I was totally believing that you found one on your hike. I was going to say it was probably illegally purchased as a pet and let loose. I stopped believing anything the MSM tells me when I very thoroughly researched and learned, with no doubt whatsoever, that Sandy Hook and all of the other major mass shootings in the last few years, were staged by the Feds. I know it's hard to believe, and it makes me sound like a UFO freak, but anyone who has done the research using MSM's own video footage, knows they're all faked. One of the actors, David Wheeler (a professional actor with Hollywood film credits) played both a grieving father and an FBI sniper on the same day, and you can go to the MSM's archive video sites to see it for yourself. Yes, the Feds and their cohorts, the MSM, are THAT corrupt now, but who knows how high the corruption goes. The best antidote to fake news stories are solid critical thinking skills and taking the time to educate yourself using reliable, non-MSM sources.