Gullibility is the real virus.
Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner. However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet. I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true. Now, however, she is spreading the word.