Perhaps you saw it, in your e-mailbox, sandwiched between the get-rich-quick schemes and warnings about devastating e-mail viruses.
It was probably sent by a well-meaning friend, who was tickled or moved by the clever writing. Writing attributed to renown novelist Kurt Vonnegut.
That little piece of ubiquitous e-mail has become the Internet hoax of the summer, and has sparked new debates about what's true and what's bogus online. Here's the real story:
On June 1, a Chicago Tribune humor columnist named Mary Schmich published a faux commencement speech, a ''Guide to Life for Graduates.''
By early August, her column had morphed into a real commencement address given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Mr. Vonnegut. Or at least that's what was reported in an e-mail chain letter which has scattered through the Internet.
Sometime in the two intervening months someone took the original, which was posted online at the Chicago Tribune's web site http://www.chicago-tribune.com/news/schmich/schmich0601.htm , extracted the speech portion, added the bogus information about Mr. Vonnegut and MIT, and shot it to an unknown number of folks. Who forwarded it to others, who forwarded it to other . . . you get the idea.
Rumors fly on Internet
No one knows who started the e-mail. No one knows how many people got it. No one will ever know.
No one got hurt. Ms. Schmich, who describes herself as ''a mediocre and virtually unknown female newspaper reporter'' shot to momentary fame after the incident, appearing on national news shows and writing several more columns about the hoax. She even tracked down Mr. Vonnegut, who said the whole incident was ''spooky.''
The problem is summed up neatly in a now-famous New Yorker cartoon: Two dogs are seated before a computer. One says to the other, ''On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog!''
Not only does no one know you're a dog, but the power of the written word - and the way the Internet distributes that word widely, quickly and anonymously - can turn fiction into fact.
The Kurt Vonnegut commencement speech was a clever ruse, since it reportedly even fooled Mr. Vonnegut's wife, photographer Jill Krementz, who forwarded the e-mail to several friends. And Wired News, a section of Wired magazine's Web site, posted excerpts.
Because it was carried on the Internet, a medium which for many people apparently carries some authority, it was widely accepted as truth. And it sounded like real Vonnegut, too.
Modern legends in making
There are many other examples of how the Internet creates modern legends and folk tales.
The TWA Flight 800 missile attack. This conspiracy theory, which snookered famous journalist Pierre Salinger, is still being debated.
E-mail viruses. PenPal Greetings, AOL4Free and other bogus virus warnings regularly show up in e-mailboxes, despite efforts to stop them.
The ''last wish of dying child'' request. There are several versions of these, but one is based in fact: A seriously ill English boy wanted to get in Guinness Book of World Records for getting the most get-well cards. He did, he got better, it's been all over for years but the e-mail is still circulating. And the cards are still coming.
The ''Hacker Attack.'' On some date, this e-mail warns, all the hackers in the world are going to wreak havoc with deadly viruses and nasty e-mails.
The famous cookie recipe. This one moved from chain letters to faxes to email. (It's still a good cookie recipe!)
Information about these and other Internet hoaxes can be found at Don't Spread that Hoax! http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html.
A parallel might be found in the rise of cheap printing in the late 19th century, which created widely distributed pulp fiction and penny newspapers. Sensationalist writers embellished on every lurid crime and petty criminal, creating heroes such as Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp. Today, historians still debate the facts behind these legends.
And 50 years from now, anthologies of Kurt Vonnegut's works may even include a clever speech he made at MIT.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com Charles Brewer's columns can be found at http://enquirer.com/columns/brewer
