Dealing with the abundance of misinformation.
Laziness or ignorance?
Writhe discussions on social media.
I see them constantly. My feeds are filled with them. People re-posting random bouts of “information” on Facebook and taking it as gospel. Not bothering to do any background research, because it resonates with their biased opinions.
People like to judge, its a part of human nature. But they should at least check the facts and make an informed decision before they spread their vile thoughts throughout the world. Laziness or ignorance? Trolls, maybe. But it really does my nut in when people argue a point that they know absolutely nothing about, other that one post they read and were so outraged by, that they had to share it.
I saw one post recently that really pissed me off. Usually, I ignore them and keep on scrolling, but this particular day I’d had enough. I had to say something, as if it would actually do anything or change his opinion. Regardless, I couldn’t let it go. It was particularly racist and was blatantly obvious that it had no basis on fact what so ever. But still, he re-posted this;
Shit, 105, 000 p.a. in benefits! Yeah, right.
If they were referring to Australian parenting payments, the most a couple can get is $492.80, per fortnight. It doesn’t take an intelligent to work out that it does not total to the above figure. Significantly less in fact, at $11,827.20 p.a. Obviously, there are a lot of variations and circumstances that change that figure, but not by that much.
What made it even worse? People actually commented and agreed that it was indeed, “fucked!”. There was one other person like myself, who pretty much told him he was being a racist asshole. The conversation went as followed;
I’m the comment in blue.
But why do we need to have this conversation in the first place?
Why do certain people see a Facebook post and see it as absolute? Are you stupid or just lazy?! Read a book or something that is from a reputable source. Do some god damn research.
So how do we ignore this abundance of misinformation?
Should we ignore it?
Maybe that’s apart of the problem. We are a society that ignores and conveniently forgets. After all, where’s the problem if you can’t see it? Where’s the issue, if it’s not at your back door? Why should we care about other cultures or countries? They aren’t “us”. They don’t think like us, act like us or sound like us. If it sells, or gains us the attention we want, who cares, right?!
Why?
Because we are all human.
We are all in this together. Or, at least we should be. It is because of the abundance of misinformation as to why it’s so important to check the facts.
I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that education is key. People need to question, not just any questions, but the right questions. We ask the right questions the more we know. We know more when we are better educated.
With an abundance of misinformation, there is also an abundance of the right information. Life and the knowledge we have is forever growing and changing. The internet gives us access to so much, that we really have no excuse. Sift through all of the crap and go straight to the source. If the source isn’t reputable, find one that is. Or several, because you can’t just take the word of one article.
We have such a powerful tool at our fingertips. It’s time we started using it.
