Viral Stupidity

As a music writer my inbox is filled to the brim every morning with press releases, newsletters, amidst the spam and scant personal fare. On Tuesday I saw that one of my favorite Jazz newsletters had arrived and my eyes moved quickly down the browser to the first headline that stated clearly that Metallica was suing the Canadian Rock band Unfaith for using the guitar chords E and F. Naturally, with my punk rock non-conformist upbringing, I rose from my chair and yelled something to the effect of ‘No @#%&;$ way!’

I felt compelled to mobilize quickly as my anger propelled me to Google to find the band Unfaith who had, undoubtedly, become the next victims in the wake of Metallica’s whining tyranny. The Unfaith home page met my eyes with Lars Ulrich’s gaping mouth like a stranger had stole his lollipop and my anger raised up inside like a monsoon. But as I read, I realized that I had been had… Apparently, this was all a hoax and my trusty Jazz newsletter had incited the same hysteria in me as many others who found the story, like I had, to defy the laws of common sense and musical integrity.

Quickly, I called up the newsletter and pounded out a quick note to the Editor that they had printed a hoax. Later in the day the Editor wrote back saying they knew it was a hoax all the while and that, ‘The beauty is that it's not inconceivable for Lars to launch into something like this after the Napster episode...,’ and that they would print it was just a hoax in a few days.

Is viral stupidity everywhere? Why would you knowingly reprint a hoax to prove a point? I suppose in this day and age where personal responsibility has become an afterthought that it all made sense to someone, somewhere…….

S. Remington - Editor
PhreshWater.com
Questions or Comments: editor@phreshwater.com