Dear Editor,
I know there will be some groans when I use the phrase, but there has been a sharp increase in the amount of ‘fake news’ that has taken over our lives, in particular, through social media. Often, we see images, videos, etc., that we want to believe are true, so we just believe that they are - but we need to do better. We are better.
There have been images and videos shared hundreds to thousands of times on social media that have had a twist to their origin. By taking something out of context and sharing it for a secondary reason, it takes away from the initial reason for it. If we are sharing misleading information - it hurts our own credibility.
How do we tell if something is being twisted to serve a new purpose? That isn’t always as easy as it can be - to be honest. We can look at a few simple items to help us determine whether the information is trustworthy or not. We can look at the source - is it trustworthy? Does the source have potential to benefit if the information is misleading us? We can use tools available to us to ensure the validity of the claims - for example, when on a web browser, there are often ways to ‘reverse search’ images, videos, or documents to see where they originate from. We need to challenge what we observe - not accept everything as fact simply because it fits the narrative we believe.
I’ve personally seen videos of cultural celebrations from a few years ago being reshared in support of current events. I’ve also seen videos of protests from a few years ago being reshared as new footage of protests. By the time the information is proved to be misleading for the secondary purpose - it is often too late and the information has been spread to great distances, further muddying the waters of truth. This hurts everyone - we need to stop the spread of misinformation - don’t be a follower, be a leader.
-RJ Mildenberger, Wetaskiwin