It’s no secret that Justin Bieber has a lot of haters. But even they have to give this brave young man some credit. Dying so many times has to be exhausting! He’s overdosed, been shot and been in a car accident. The most traumatic experience though, would have to be the time he died twice in one day.
He’s not the only celebrity who’s had to suffer through multiple deaths. Oscar-snubbed legend Tony Danza and underground comic Adam Sandler have both felt the bitter sting of the Reaper’s scythe on more than one occasion. Well…at least on Twitter.
The social media goliath has become known for the pile of dead celebrities it leaves in its wake. Why? Seemingly just for the hell of it. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Someone starts the rumor and then it spreads. It’s happened to pretty much everyone, from science academic Bill Nye to pudding-promoter Bill Cosby.
One of the main players in the rise of death hoaxes is the website fakeawish.com. The site allows you to input a celebrity’s name into a template, with nine different options to choose from. Then you’re given a link to a reasonably convincing article from ‘Global Associated News’. The fake article’s then posted on Twitter, and an embarrassing amount of people are fooled.
The question is whether Twitter’s to blame. CBC reporter and part-time STU professor Jacques Poitras’ first reaction to this thought-provoking question was, “isn’t there actual news going on at STU to report on instead of this?” However, upon further reflection he came up with a conclusive answer.
“It’s like anything else. You have to evaluate the credibility of the source. So really the platform itself is not the issue. It also depends on what the information is. If someone says this politician was just hit by a bus, I wouldn’t put that out there even with attribution,” said Poitras.
Although Twitter does make it easier to spread nonsensical rumors, they would exist anyway. Facebook has tried to kill off celebrities too, although it’s far less successful.
Though the perpetrators may not consider twitter deaths harmful, some of those ‘killed’ thought otherwise. Both Jerry Springer and Bill Cosby have spoken of how their family and friends became distraught upon hearing the rumors.
However, that’s not even the worst aspect of this whole farce. The worst part is that it’s not funny. No one’s going to laugh at finding out a celebrity isn’t really dead. It’s just pointless and banal. So next time you see your favourite celebrity died, think about it for a second before you rush to make a RIP Facebook group.
