Robert Saob
Richard Dollieslager
College Composition 2
March 1, 2018
Does Truth Really Matter
In a world that has gone digital and has access to a lot of information only a few clicks away. We seem to have forgotten to check how that information came to be or where it essentially came from. Nowadays we simply chalk it up and swallow it as it is disregarding whether it is the actual truth or a well fabricated lie. Yet the truth does matter because opinions simply based on falsehoods are dangerous.
The most common term for media hoaxes and rumors is Fake news. This term was coined recently due to the 2016 election. Fake news has been circulating ever since media has been around. They have been called yellow paper journalism and even propaganda. They’ve been meant to instill an idea to the populace that bends in the way of the author or publications ideals. So why do they exist? The simple answer to that question is that they are simply effective, so much so that many can’t really discern it from the truth. According to a study by Time getting baited into a fake news article is easier nowadays due to everything going digital. Link after link when people have such easy access to information they take it all in without really thinking about it nor can they really check due to the haze of misinformation. This is made even worse when it goes viral and publication and authority figures get a hold on these. Opinions essentially form from these but the bases of such things are questionable yet believable.
Fake news pops up today like wild fire. Speaking of such things, there was a headline that insinuates that immigrants started the California wildfires during October 2017. This was proven false by Snopes as the original publication came from a satirical website called Freedom Junkshun. Though this did not stop it from spreading and sprouting new roots. The original “culprit” was a fictional Muslim immigrant but thanks to a right-wing website Breitbart and Alex Jones’ Info Wars the “culprit” became a Mexican immigrant named Jesus Fabian Gonzalez; who in fact does exist, though he was arrested for something else entirely. This again became something else entirely different thanks to Got News claiming the fires were lit because of Mexican drug cartels seeking to expand on the legal Marijuana industry by clearing off the land. This trend of putting the blame on societal groups dates back to ancient times. Without fact checking these stories things like; hate, fear, and skepticism will be undoubtedly bred needlessly animosity amongs the populace. This was specially the case because it happened during a time of a major crisis and public outcry towards these groups were immensely increased.
“Cats tend to play on your keyboard, right? Maybe they are trying to send us a message. Folks often put the blame on one another. But we are forgetting those feline annoyances are smarter than we think they are. Back in the ancient days they were worshiped as gods. Why? Because they were smart and they could easily manipulate us bipeds into doing their bidding using their cuddly features. But due to a life of excess and play, we humans out evolved our furry overlords and now rule atop the food chain”.
Stories and thinking like this are completely baseless and false yet some people believe in such things and these beliefs are shared and sometimes accepted as a norm.
Conspiracy theories essentially are just concepts trying to explain something that isn’t or couldn’t be explained. The key word here is theory, which means it’s an explanation based on limited information, so the truth may or may not be there. Yet some people essentially believe and push these theories onto people’s throats. Theories like; Bush did 9/11 or FEMA concentration camps are meant to be satires, but some theories are outright dangerous. The “vaccine causes autism movement” is an example of just that. An article by Huffington post reported on an activist of this movement (Hart). Rob Schneider a harsh critic on the government’s role over health, emphasizes that “vaccines cause autism” and that “it is illegal for the government to administer vaccines to children” in which he quoted the Nuremburg laws that ironically originated from the Nazi’s anti-Semitic laws. Thinking like this could essentially cause more health concerns for both the child and those around him/her due to them being a possible patient zero.
To re-iterate does the truth matter? Yes, the truth does matter. Without it we would be nothing but sheep herded into a mindless flow of ideas. We have little to no choice in agreeing or disagreeing to the whims of those who hold power for we cannot prove them right or wrong. It would be nothing but a world full of hate, fear, and skepticism towards those who the majority sees as unfit. A world as dark and depressing as an Orwellian vision. The truth does matter because we need it to claim ourselves human. We need it to claim ourselves free.
Works Cited
Emery, David et al. (2017) Immigrants Arrested for Starting California Wildfires? A series of articles fervently blamed immigrants and Muslims for devastating California fires -- falsely, misleadingly, and without evidence. https://www.snopes.com/immigrants-california-wildfires/
Time. (2016) Why Fake News Is So Incredibly Effective. http://time.com/4583475/fake-news-effective/
Hart, Benjamin. 2012. Rob Schneider Links Autism To Vaccines, Rails Against Big Government (VIDEO). https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/rob-schneider-links-autism-vaccines_n_1641922.html