One night, my mom was listening to music with corona themed lyric. It was from her favourite band, and she found it from one of her Whatsapp groups.
" Come listen; it's so amazing that they've managed to predict this." She asked me to come closer.
" What?" I was curious.
" So, they predicted in about 10 years ago that there would be corona. Just listen to the lyrics and look at the cover." My mom explained.
In disbelief, I requested, " let me see your phone."
I took her phone and started showing her the result from that entry.
" Look mom, here's the artist statement. It was released just about two weeks ago."
" But it shows like this, and everyone in the group said so," she added.
" Here take a good look!" I increased my tone, half annoyed.
Eventually, she read the artist statement I showed her.
" Next time, don't merely trust what's being shared in a Whatsapp group".
That was not the first time. There were many occasions I was forwarded with pseudoscience and ridiculous health claims. Often, I debunked the information and told my mom the info I managed to gather. But the question now becomes, " does she trust the information that I provided to her?"
This situation is not new, but I decided to bring this up again. Yesterday, I browsed on youtube and the news about the capitol storming in the US. When the BLM riots happened, some of my Indonesian friends were very vocal about it. I have no idea where they get the information, but they seem to be distressed about it. Even my mother read the news and formed an opinion from what she saw on the TV. For me, I chose to not talk about mine. However, I keep an eye on different news outlets and media that cover this news. I tried to see every side of the coins and from the political perspective that I have. Even then, with all the information I gathered, I still don't think it was a balanced one. It is similar to the current situation. I don't believe what I see from the news is a balanced and fair discussion.There are more things than meets the eye.
Lately, I choose to abstain involving myself in politics. But, it was something I enjoy discussing, researching and learning. It is unfortunate that the current climate is more about asserting one owns ego and pushing specific ideas and values to be right and wrong. However, the more I run away from it, the more I find myself stuck in the mud. Everything is political, and some of the nature of my field is political.
Supposedly, if I stop questioning things around me, I would accept any current narratives to govern my life. Perhaps, life would be much more comfortable as I become ignorant about these things and never question any authorities nor my own beliefs.
Lately, I also read about the fact-checkers from facebook. Not that I use the service but I think we should not rely to a corporation to do the fact-checking for us. I know not many has the time to care about these things or care about the information provided to them, but if we care, we should at least know how to do a basic research and what it means to research.
Unfortunately, everyone despite age and technology proficiency can be a victim to false information. I met some kids my age who believed in some absurd claims about the coronavirus. And I met more than five people my age who enjoys watching conspiracy theory channels on youtube. What's moredisturbing is how they quickly believe in what is being presented instead of knowing more about the facts and separating the opinion.
Mac covers technology, philosophy, nootropics, books, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than those, she is passionate about cooking and travel. Mac enjoys learning art and exploring new hobbies. Hive is where she shares things that matter to her.
Ah, the curse of a critical mind and researching beyond what you're told. We're in the minority and it's tough to see friends and family share one article they read from the Internet or see one news bulletin from one source and believe it's Gospel.
I stay away from it all and just have to play music to get myself back to a happy place, otherwise you'd end up depressed!
That's good if you can stay away as far as possible. It's almost impossible for me due the nature of my field. But hopefully after I graduate, it'll be much easier.
That’s why I thank our politicians for lying to us, they push us to think more critically. The higher level the lie, the more critical thinking lol
My parents believe a lot of WhatsApp broadcast messages over me. I've told them to take everything they read on the internet with a pinch of salt because they keeping falling for clickbaits.
You can always show them the original source or even source from more trusted places, as in the first hand of the source.
hello friend @macchiata good day
I never understood what the purpose of providing fake news is, it makes no sense, but unfortunately it is something that is increasing. Without a doubt, we must consult several sources before taking the news for granted
I take this opportunity to wish you a great day
It makes no sense but it's lucrative business.
No we bloody shouldn't. It's not that people's gullibility annoys me, it's their inability to bloody research. If it's too wierd, frightening, horrific, stupid or scary to be true, it probably isn't true - go do your digging. Understand it's often clickbait.
My hubs is a very intelligent man but I still have to explain it to him sometimes.
Take recent case of corona in Australia. Everyone's freaking out. 'We knew the third wave was coming' they said. 'I suppose we should just stay home'. I have to explain that it's three cases, on the other side of the state, that they've contact traced and got all the people involved in self quarantine and are tracking them, and it came from one airline staff who'd flown in from uk and it wasn't even locally acquired. 'Oh really?' they said. 'I didn't realise'. Grrr - how hard is it to dig?
There's a lot of examples around us. These situation is a reminder that we should continue being vigilant about any information we received and read especially if it's not from a first hand source.