Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to repeat a rumour.
In the flats John M was widely lauded for his wisdom.
One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Jonny do you know what I just heard about one of your mates?"
"Wait a moment," John M replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Johnny continued. "Before you talk to me about anybody let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Jonny . "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about someone something good?"
"No, on the contrary ..."
"So," John M continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Johnny continued, "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really ..."
"Well," concluded John M , "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed.
This is the reason The Rodent was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. he insisted on Links never considered if the shit was true just that some hack had typed it out on his Remington Typewriter and there was a link .
