It’s the end of the world!
Or so people thought it was in 2012.
Some of us ‘predicted’ that the world would end on the 23rd September 2012. This was due to the collision of Earth and another planet named ‘Niburu’ (which was discovered by the Sumerians). In fact, this other planet does not exist. The story of the planet has been around for years, known as the “days of darkness” tale.
This idea was originally formed in May 2003. But nothing seemed to happen on that fateful doomsday, so the date was moved to December 2012; according to the Mayan ancient prophecies, the Mayan calendar was meant to come to an end on the 21st December and therefore so would the world. Yet there was no scientific evidence, so NASA neglected the idea and didn’t believe it would happen.
I remember, I was in year nine when the rumour was being spread around. It was the lead up to the Christmas holidays and the teachers were having none of it. A friend that I sat next to in science class even constructed a hat out of tin foil. He would stand on his stool then call out across the lab “the end is nigh!” as if he should have a sandwich board attached to his chest. He would tell me that he wasn’t going to bother to revise for the end of term test (“who cares? The world is going to end on Friday anyway”). It was difficult to tell whether people were talking it about it ironically or their belief was genuine. If only someone had told me it was simply ‘Fake News’ then I would have concentrated more on my school work instead of that nonsense.
The term ‘Fake News’ can be seen as propaganda. It can be defined as sources that fabricate information and give deceptive content. This communication may be through hoaxes on social media but sometimes it can find its way to mainstream media as well. Stories are easily communicated by accident. Like the fable of the world coming to an end, people find something they believe to be true and share it with their friends. Yet some may tag ‘fake news’ in their story to make it more popular. On occasion, teachers are finding wrong facts in their students’ homework. Some are easy to spot for instance “Woman gives birth to an eighteen stone baby” or “there are sexy single girls in your near area”. But we still seem to be becoming more and more gullible.
Personally, I have found that my younger brother is one of the most gullible people I have met. He wouldn’t go anywhere near our attic after he watched the first Paranormal Activity film. Fear can make us doubt what is real. We can second guess ourselves and forget how to rely on others. We can be afraid of commitment, so relationships can be rocky and full of anxiety. Friendships can be tiring and we can give up. But it’s simply based on a lack of conviction. If you trust someone, you believe that they won’t do anything that will deliberately hurt you. It is shown that people are more likely to help their family members rather than friends. This is as family members have proved to give something in return. But even then, sometimes we are let down.
It is becoming more noticeable that people have less faith in what the media tells them. One study showed that the overall trust in traditional media has decreased from 72% in 2016 to 50% this year. What is there to believe any more? It sounds like an existential question but trust issues can develop through lack of evidence.
Fake news can also be associated with politics. For instance, Donald Trump used the phrase in a few of his speeches. For example, in July earlier this year, he was questioned for his criticism against Theresa May. He simply responded with “We record when we deal with reporters, it’s called fake news”. Another example would be one of his more famous lines “you are fake news” where he pointed at his audience. In 2016, Barack Obama mentioned that fake news has created a “dust cloud of nonsense”.
We can build up stories and make our world appear as if it is happy and fun. Fake news can distract us from our hard-hitting reality. For instance, billions of people live in an area where they lack a source of clean water. Pigs can experience depression. A lot of our world feels like they can’t survive without Wi-Fi, but 25% of people in the world do not even have electricity.
Life can be hard at times, we can all agree with that. It’s difficult to understand what is false and deceptive nowadays. There are fake friends, fake promises and now fake news is becoming more popular. But hey, at least it’s not the end of the world.
References
More about the end of the world: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html
Fake news as propaganda: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/11_13/News/Fact-or-Fake-News-Can-you-trust-everything-you-read-online/
Paranormal Activity. Directed by Oren Peli. 25 November 2009 (United Kingdom)
Media is less trusted: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/06/18/journalists-believe-the-public-trusts-traditional-media-22-less-2016
Fake news, Trump: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-44824856/donald-trump-it-s-called-fake-news
Barack Obama quote: https://www.statista.com/topics/3251/fake-news/
Sad facts: https://www.factinate.com/things/41-sad-true-facts/
