Ever caught someone being wrong about something? What was it like?
Say a very well meaning friend offers you a health product to make you feel better for your sickness. When you ask them the features of the product, they give you this great explanation about how it will do this and that for you.
Then, in your excitement and desire to find out more you look online and discover that they really had no idea what they were talking about. Actually, this product is kinda not held in high regard, and the product certainly doesn’t work the way they described. You spent 2 minutes online and you can now re-explain how the product is suppose to work better than they did.
Do you confront your friend about their complete lack of accurate information?
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9 Answers
I feel kinda bad for them. If it’s important, I’ll try to think of a kind way to correct them.
If it’s an opponent, then they get the full broadside. :D
I think you should definitely tell your friend what you discovered about the product online (assuming that you got the info from a reputable site like Webmd, the Center for Disease Control or the Mayo Clinic’s site) and just let them know what’s wrong with it. You don’t need to confront them in a negative manner, just share the info.
I get junk emails from a friend that believes every piece of crap someone decides to circulate . One minute with Snopes and you can tell it’s a fake. Often I just send it back with the correct info. If it is really inflammatory I will send it to the distribution list that she inevitably forgets to hide.
I always try to help people when they make a mistake, but I have to be careful about my Daughter-In-Law because any suggestions about anything are likely to be met with “I’m always on her back”. I can barely talk to her at all.
YEEEAAAAAAH. IN YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
I would just share what you found out. I always look for the possitive and the negative of just about anything that I’m going to look into. There are pros and cons to just about everything on the web so I usually do some investigation before I ever come to any conclusions. You could just get on line with the person and have them look at the information with you.
Sure. Why not? They too would be better off knowing that stuff they’re buying isn’t really as awesome as they thought it is.
I know that if a friend of mine found out I’m wrong about subject A and they wouldn’t tell me in order to spare my delicate ego, I would be far from thankful. May no one ever go that easy on me.
Nothing wrong with a healthy smack in the face from the Truth, when you deserve it. Keeps you on your epistemic toes.
Happens all the time. I feel neutral about it.
Sure, I’d pass on the info, phrasing it neither as a judgment about the product nor the person—simply a friendly FYI. From there, it’s up to the person to decide how he/she wants to deal with it.
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