On December 23, many people shared photos of their dogs on Facebook. But one Facebook user is getting a lot of attention for his dog post:
Facebook user Stephen Roseman posted:
“This poor dog was badly burned and disfigured trying to save his family from a house fire.
“One like = one prayer
“One share = ten prayers”
First of all, anyone with one iota of common sense will know that one Facebook “like” is not equivalent to a prayer. If the (Christian) Biblical God is omniscient, and Facebook is the new “direct line” to Him (or Her), surely there would be something in the Bible about how faithful Christians in the future will communicate through God’s new prophet, Mark Zuckerberg.
But I guess Jesus was too busy talking about feeding the hungry and healing the sick — must’ve slipped his mind to mention this new prayer medium. Apparently, you can even maximize your prayer time by “sharing” for the equivalence of ten prayers! No need for any more “Our Fathers” — those are for suckers, now that faithful modern Christians have the “share” button!
Lots of people bought in hook, line, and sinker, posting their poorly-spelled well-wishes:
The second major problem with this photo is that the dog is not burned. If you look at it with more than about three braincells at once, you can immediately see that it is a slice of deli meat on the dog’s head. (Or, as my four-year-old said, “Silly doggy has some ham on his face!“) Likely, the dog is patiently waiting to be given the command to be able to chow down on the meat irritatingly placed right on its face.
For the record, had the dog *actually* been burned saving its family, it would still be pretty unscrupulous to share its photo for sympathy, especially asking for “likes” and “shares.” This is a classic scam called “like farming,” and it is pervasive on Facebook. It is unclear whether Roseman was engaging in “like farming,” since it seems like he posted it from his personal profile (scammers tend to start a new profile for the purpose of farming), and he has been personally responding to his critics, claiming it was a joke.
Also, a quick browse of Roseman’s Facebook wall is full of conspiracy-theory, chem-trail, don’t-tread-on-me nonsense, so if the profile was created for “like mining,” it’s pretty in-depth.
I think it’s fair to assume that “Stephen Roseman” is a real person, and, though he has claimed that the post was a joke, it is impossible to know why he actually posted it.
What is clear is that there are lots of gullible, would-be do-gooders, as the post has over 100,000 shares as of publication. Had each of those (along with the 60,000 folks who “liked” the post) donated $5 to a local pet shelter, they would have raised almost a million dollars for pets who are actually in need.
Think about that next time you are tempted to “like” or “share” something, thinking you are helping.
Featured image is a screencap from Facebook.
