The internet can become a crazy place, as in the recent case of "hamdog," which confused Facebook and tricked people into sharing and praying for a dog with nothing but a ham on its face.
It all began on December 23 at 5:35 p.m., when Facebook user Stephen Roseman posted the photo of the dog with a ham on its face. The post's caption read as follows:
"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."
Click here to check out the Facebook post.
Of course, Roseman didn't reveal the real nature of the photo which, to be honest, is already pretty obvious if you look at it closely.
The image of the supposedly "hurt" dog quickly became viral, garnering the attention of thousands. At the time of this writing, the photo gained more than 116,000 shares and over 60,000 clicked the like button.
Some people claimed they are praying for the dog, while others offered goodwill and well-wishes for the "brave" and "poor" creature, who they thought suffered a horrible burn after saving his human owners.
While several thousands were duped by Roseman's trickery this holiday season, others were not so easily convinced of the "burn" story and pointed out that the photo was simply that of a dog with a slice of cold cut.
The story sounds interesting, albeit ridiculous, but as described by BGR, it's "especially entertaining" to see how people reacted as they slowly realized how important it is not to take things like this on Facebook so seriously.
Several Facebook users were naturally livid after they realized they had been tricked. Some called him "heartless" and accused him of mistreating the dog. Others expressed genuine rage at Roseman, even accusing him of making threats to non-sharers of the post.
As for Roseman, he seemed unaffected by all the drama. He said later that "hamdog" wasn't even his dog. He admitted that it was just a random photo on the internet that he reposted, and he was just making fun of people who make such posts.
"tup, this is a mockery and I did it all for teh LuLz!" Roseman wrote.
As noted by the Daily Mail, the "hamdog" mastermind "took everything in stride" and even fueled more prayers saying, "So far, fifty two thousand prayers for ham dog, god bless him."
As reported by Mashable, shares are continuing until this moment. Apparently, some people still believe that the dog is a hero.
Over the past year, there have been incredibly stupid memes that came out on the internet, but "hamdog" is icing on the cake, and certainly tops the list.
What have we learned? Don't believe everything on the internet, and check your sources first before sharing anything.
"Hamdog" isn't the only animal who has gotten internet coverage over a cold cut in the past few years. Check out the videos below of equally adorable cats and dogs who became sort of famous because of hams.
What do you think of this "hamdog" viral fiasco? Tell us in the comments below.