Reminder: Don’t believe everything you hear and read

I just came across another example of why you can’t trust the media (or maybe people in general?! but let’s not be too philosophical at this point). The German comedians and entertainers known as Joko & Klaas (best known amongst younger people) have their own TV shows and are well known for their crazy and funny stuff. In some way you have the feeling of knowing them for multiple reasons. Joko (this name is being made up of his first names Joachim Cornelius) now revealed in an interview that his second name “Cornelius” was actually just an invention.

Not a big deal, one could thing. And for me personally it doesn’t even make a difference whether this man’s name is Joachim or Joachim Cornelius. But still this shows me how easy it is to make a lie (that was first meant to be a joke) become putative truth. As a consumer you might think “Why would one lie about the own name?” so we believe it blindly. Being repeated over and over again, this lie is being spread and becoming so well established that nobody ever doubts it’s truthfulness. In the interview he said he even received letters being addressed as “Joachim Cornelius Winterscheidt”.

I am well aware that it’s an issue of little importance for most people. Still it makes me wonder how many lies are still around without being noticed as such?! Is it really that easy to make other people believe whatever you invent? Obviously it is, at least for this kind of invention. Or are we just being stupid and naive?