Fake News Slipup
I’m mortified.
Already this year I’ve had the unfortunate experience of posting two instances of fake news on my social networking sites. I’m quite embarrassed by these actions, especially since I’m an information professional. I should know better, and should be setting an example. Hell, I’ve even called some people out on their own posting of unverified “news.” I’m a pot calling the kettle black, apparently. I didn’t know I had the capacity to share false information in this manner, and I wonder how many other times I’ve done it in the past. I was quite sure that I was more discriminating and critical about the information I shared online. (ed: how many additional ways can I express my moment of self-realization?)
My personal embarrassment of my actions is minor compared to the negative effects such posts have when they get re-shared, and falsely validated numerous times. I’m only one person, but in both cases, I shared posts that had popped up in my social networking feeds from others; each story was already making the rounds before it hit my feed. One of them went viral.
The good news is that I now have a visceral understanding as to why false information gets shared so readily. Perhaps by sharing the experience, and my self-examination, I can find ways to become more self-aware that can be used by multiple people. Essentially, I want to know how I lost control, and how I can be more mindful in the future. Because, chances are, it will happen again.
In my recent slip-ups, I remember my state of mind, and where I was when I shared the posts. In examining both cases there are clear similarities, and clear issues that I need to discipline and be more aware of.
I was tired both times I belched out false information to the masses. While I examined both posts before publishing them, my ability to critically examine their verity was not up to par, and at the time, I had no clue about it.
From here on out, I’m following a new self-imposed rule: I’m not allowed to share anything online but cute animals when I’m tired or sick.
I subconsciously wanted to share the emotions, not the substance, of both posts. I clearly recall doing a cursory examination of the media that had sparked my interest. Regardless of obvious signs that should have told my sleepy brain that more research was necessary, like a lazy manager of a failing business, a little voice in my head gave me the go-ahead, “Yeah, it’s totally accurate. Post it.”
I want to be very clear, here. I’m not writing this to punish myself or to out myself. I’m posting this because I’m not the only person who has done this, and I think it’s extremely important for us all to become self-aware. What is keeping us from being critical of the news we imbibe all the time?
I’m hoping to start a trend. How can you relate to what I did? Have you ever inadvertently shared false information? Have you found any ways of controlling this issue in yourself or for your friends and family? When you’re tired, and might lack the fortitude to hold off on posting something, how do you find the wherewithal to control your insta-reshare-reflex?
The Horrid Details
POST #1: White Baseball Players Kneel in the 50s to Protest Black Lynchings
Earlier this week, I posted this story on Facebook about baseball players kneeling to protest black lynchings in the 1950s. It’s not real {archived}. Before my friend Debra respectfully called me out on the fake info, it had already been reshared by several people. I LOVE that she did this for me, and I call on everyone out there to respectfully and empathetically call out other posts that share false information.
There are some pretty obvious signs in this photo that immediately indicate that it doesn’t depict what the headline describes. In my friend Debra’s call-out, besides linking the Snopes article that I link above, she pointed these signs out:
“There’s hardly anyone in the stands behind them and none are standing with their hands over their hearts as would have been done at that time. Plus, the standing players are relaxed, casual, leaning, clearly posing for a photo and not listening to the national anthem. Just the set-up of the photo, the positioning of the front row dealing while the back stands is give-away enough.”
The Snopes article points out even more obvious signs that the information was invented.
Why did my delirious mind think this image matched its headline? Because I loved the sentiment, and those good feelz combined with my fuzzy brain rationalized my ability to critically analyze the image.
POST #2: Video of the Women’s March on DC, 2018
I was supposed to march in New York City on this momentous occasion, but I didn’t sleep a wink the night before and was feeling quite nauseous and tired on the day of the event. I regretfully stayed home to care for my health, essentially sleeping most of the day. I was disappointed and frustrated. To compensate, and take part in some small way, I took to social media and reshared a bunch of posts I found online.
There was one very impressive video I came across posted by a guy named @GerrenPeterson that got my sleepy, emotional juices flowing. I shared it on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a screenshot of the post as it looks on Facebook:
I remember feeling dubious about what year the video was from, and attempted to discern that by watching it. I figured out that the video depicted DC and not NY as Peterson had tweeted, but that’s really as far as I got. Had I sought out the first tweet from @RadioFreeAmerica, I’d have immediately realized how misleading it was, but my fuzzy brain didn’t even realize that option.
Here’s a screenshot of the first tweet shared by Peterson. Note the date on the bottom-left:
I kept my post up on Facebook to be transparent. I took down my original tweet because it was getting shared and replied to quite a lot. It was a bit like stanching a slashed jugular vein with a tiny band-aid, but what else could I do?
