In the last week the BBC, CNN, the Daily Mail, The Telegraph and many other news sites and blogs have reported a hoax as fact. The hoax was this: Internet Explorer users are less intelligent than those using other web browsers.
It is a lie that has spread like wildfire despite the thinnest of fabricated "evidence" produced by a website cobbled together in the last month. Why did this lie find such instant and universal acceptance (amongst the web-savvy anyway)? Because we love to judge.
We are inveterate self-justifiers who need to feel righteous. But before we paint that beautiful word in sordid colours, let's think about why we need to feel righteous....