Do you send or share a lot of forwards on emails, WhatsApp or various social media? I am not talking about the forwards from fake relatives asking for money in Nigeria or messages that warn you of your impending painful death if you don’t forward it. I am referring to the passionate patriot, the forwarder with a conscience, the person who constantly worries about public health and safety.

Technology at our fingertips means we often forward at the click of a button, rarely checking if that forward is true or a silly hoax. The more dangerous it sounds, the faster we forward it.

Take the Frooti hoax, for example. If you haven’t received the forward about the alleged case of a disgruntled HIV-positive worker contaminating Frooti products with his blood, you surely will soon. Unfortunately, a lot of people never bothered to do a simple Google search on it. HIV is only known to be transmitted in three ways: sexual transmission, blood-to-blood contact (injection needles) and from mother to infant. In fact, HIV does not survive long enough in the environment to pose a real risk. Unfortunately, many a reader usually gets alarmed and continues to feed the hungry rumour chain.

My favourite kind is the passionate patriot. He will go to any lengths to prove how great the Indian Army is. Of course there is a lot of respect for the Army in the Indian psyche, and that is an established fact.

One forward shows what looks like a man wearing a Pakistani soldier’s uniform eating lunch with a bottle of dirty water next to him. The post brazenly brands it the poor state of an Indian Armyman at the border. Unfortunately, posts like these that touch an emotional chord tend to go viral very fast.

Another photo shows soldiers forming a human bridge for flood victims to cross over. A poignant picture that would affect most people. The caption says it’s the brave soldiers of the Indian Army. Nope. Those are Chinese soldiers and the photo dates back to the massive 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Interestingly, a Google search reveals that some overzealous patriotic citizens of Japan and Philippines have also laid claim to the photo.

Frankly, the Indian Army has always been at the forefront of disaster relief and rescue and many a brave soldier has performed beyond the call of duty in providing aid. But I feel morphing fake images and forwarding them actually disrespects the soldier.

Newspapers and websites usually provide actual photos and footage of these soldiers. Why not forward those, if you are keen?

In fact, every Independence Day, one image that does the rounds is of US Marines raising the flag during the battle of Iwo Jima. The only difference is that the tricolour has been superimposed on the American flag. So we have a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, which is one of the most recognizable images of World War-II, masquerading online as an Indian image with the Tiranga. I am sorry but that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

There are hundreds of examples out there. Some advise you exotic health mantras, others spin tall tales of ministers, film stars or blown up Indian achievements. If only some of us were more discerning in separating the wheat from the chaff.