It seems obvious to any person who went to grade school in or before the 90s, but there was a point in time when the internet was considered not a reliable place to cite a source or quote from. It turns out the internet got pretty great, and people started to use it for a lot more, and somewhere along the line everyone forgot what a fact looked like. I have been working on the web for 20 years, professionally for most of that time. It is appalling to me what people will believe without questioning the source. Get serious people! Don’t just believe some garbage on the internet! Checking sources is NOT out of fashion!
Think about what you’re reading, and where it comes from.
So how do you check sources? Well start by thinking for half a second about where you’re reading your information at. Are you on a blog (like this one), or Facebook, Twitter or some other (god forbid Parlor) social media outlet? I too was surprised to find that the content on rando sites (like this one) and even social media could in fact be bullshit. By the way email can be BS too (it’s the original Social Media). It’s crazy to think someone could use a platform that’s free, where they can say almost anything they want to spread falsehoods. It is shocking that free speech isn’t limited to saying true things, and that someone could lie. Why would they do that anyway? Please see: Money, fame, assholery.
Oh and by the way, why the hell do people not want to believe the mainstream media? Yes all of the main news outlets have political biases one way or another, but why the heck would anyone think they are less believable than some unshaved dude sitting in his basement writing bullcrap about the next apocalypse? The nuts writing the garbage you might believe, used to be the street corner guy wearing the tin foil hat, holding the hand written cardboard sign.
Mainstream media sucks to be sure. They are in the business of making money too after all. However, journalists get in trouble if they flat out lie. They used to anyway. Now some liar in a suit can make an opinion segment (pretend it’s still news) and say whatever they want (screw you Fox, well mostly Fox), while people who don’t know any better continue to believe whatever filth they spew. All the while big corporations make tons of money off of their personality, and we all end up hating each other at Thanksgiving… sigh. I definitely do think we need to get rid of that, but I digress…
It is your responsibility. Yeah for real.
Checking sources is NOT out of fashion, but it is pretty hard to do. The tech revolution has connected everyone in an unprecedented way. We can hear directly from anyone. The President (even if he is a buffoon) can talk directly to each of us on our phones. That is truly amazing. It comes with a responsibility though that nobody talks about. Just because he (or someday maybe one day she) is the president doesn’t mean they are always right or even saying a truth.
It is up to every one of us to fact check. You cannot just trust the outlet you’ve always listened to without question. They are making money off of you. Every ad you click, every link that gets you closer to some conspiracy theory is money in their pocket. Yes, mainstream news does this too, but the news is suppose to have journalistic integrity. The news checks sources, they provide evidence. If you can’t be bothered to look around for yourself, at least look at both sides of the mainstream. Watch Fox and CNN, if nothing else. Have an open mind.
This isn’t a new concept. Plato wrote about a cave. Do you want to be a prisoner and never turn your head? Look up! Facts aren’t always sexy. They rarely are. The good news is the truth doesn’t end in an internal insurrection on our Democracy that left 5 Americans dead. That shit is a sad FACT.