I wonder how many people at this point are unaware of a semi-fake Martin Luther King Jr. quote going around the internet. In my (perhaps small) world, it’s been taking up more space than the analysis of Osama Bin Laden’s death. Here’s the quote:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Apparently, the first sentence was not said by MLK, although the latter three were. I saw a friend of mine post this quote on facebook last night and reposted it as my own status. How much did my reposting have to do with the fact that the quote was supposedly MLK’s? I have no idea, but I’d like to think that my motivations had more to do with the content than the supposed author of the quote. I’m sure that’s what the millions of other people who reposted it will say as well.

What’s REALLY amazing here is not only how quickly a previously non-existent quote spread. The fact that the quote was not authentic seems to be spreading as quickly as the quote itself. In fact, if you Google search for “MLK quote” right now, I bet you will find more mentions of the quotes non-genuineness than of the quote itself (this was not true this morning when I tried the search). If you search for the first sentence of the quote, you still get mostly people sharing the quote, but I bet that will change soon as well.

I’m not sure whether this is a good or bad signal about the internet’s power. On one hand, untruths can spread amazingly quickly when the circumstances are favorable. However, they also seem to be corrected quickly.