A Pandemic of Misinformation

The COVID-19 outbreaks brought on a slew of information, which we turned solely to media to make sense of the panic we were feeling. Unfortunately, the media we turned to then framed our idea of what was going on for the rest of the year. 

It is so scary to me how quickly social media speeds false information. And it's even scarier that we see people turning to new apps because they "don't censor". I understand the point of view that censorship can be scary. In the view of some people, it easily covers up truths that society or the government doesn't want you to hear. On the other hand, if we can't trust media, who can we trust? If the government really is keeping things from us through FACEBOOK, what can we trust? What can we believe? Why is your truth, from conspiracy theory websites, more accurate than my truth, from mainstream, but highly rated media companies? WHY IS TRUTH SO RELATIVE??



Okay this is a chaotic post, mostly just full of ramblings, but the moral of the story is that I'm so confused by the misinformation and the fact that no one fact-checks the boldest claims on the internet, like the fact that masks don't work (???) or that voter fraud changed the outcome of this election (???)

Comments

  1. Anna JewkesDecember 2, 2020 at 8:45 AM

    I agree with you! It is crazy and scary how false information gets blown out of proportion and so many people believe it! I wonder what can be done about this. I feel like it is more up to media consumers to be careful and diligent in their search for information. Take the mask debate for example, if people would just do a little bit more research they would be able to know what is really true and helpful for society!

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  2. Nicki DannemanDecember 2, 2020 at 7:35 PM

    Oooh yeah, I could talk about this for days lol! It is so frustrating that I don't know what to believe and trust on the internet! A lot of times I don't even know where to start to find reliable information because I feel like everything I find is contradictory. I definitely agree, we need to be more aware of the information we're getting and careful about what we believe and share. It's a crazy world out there!

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