“Fake News” of Me Being a Robber

Posting on social media feels like throwing a crumpled piece of paper with a message on it into an abyss. Sure, somebody might see it, but it ultimately doesn’t feel worth my time mostly, and it just gets lost in the shuffle of the other billions of things that are happening on the Internet. Even with platforms on Facebook where people I know see what I post, It never really amounts to anything substantial, maybe a comment or two at the very most. I do not post enough on social media enough as it is, so when tasked to create a bit of “fake news” about something that did not actually happen, I was wondering how I could possibly do such a thing without either anybody caring or my credibility going down the drain.

However, with quarantine due to the pandemic now well effective, I found my opportunity. I went to the post office with a bandana and sunglasses on to send a package for a thing I sold on eBay. My mom noticed it made me look like a robber, which I hilariously did. Suddenly, I found my inspiration for my ‘fake news.’ Since this is a time of great stress and anxiety, I felt incredibly uncomfortable with the prospect of posting something fake and spreading false information, especially in a time in which fake news has literally killed people. So, I decided to be a tiny bit more playful and post about how I got sent down to the local police station for questioning because of my looks at the post office, where someone got scared and called the police on me.

So, I posted on Facebook. It was played off with a bit of humor, with me in my post office attire, pointing finger guns and having a good attitude about it. So, I waited. I waited to see if this was just another instance of throwing something into the abyss or not. Sure enough, people reacted, mainly with likes, ‘laughter’ reacts, and ‘sad’ reacts instead of comments questioning why I did what I did, or crazy responses. In fact, the only comment I got was outside of Facebook, when my eldest brother texted me “did you actually get taken to the police station?” to which I replied it was fake and I had to do it for a class, and then he said “had to make sure. those finger guns were pretty convincing.”

That was all that happened. In this way, I do not feel like I need to really say it WAS fake, because ultimately, it was very inconsequential. Maybe if I had said I got arrested and fined, people would have taken it much more seriously and have been much more concerned. Thing is, during this pandemic, I felt it would have been too mean-spirited to have people be more worried than they have to be. And imagine if everybody did this type of stuff more malevolently for attention or worse. But people do. Lots of them do. I am just not one of those people. But regardless, I did not get called out on it. I just received likes and reacts, and people saw me. I guess, then, I succeeded. Who knows? It’s hard to tell when you scream into an abyss.