It was ... many years ago. The Internet was young. An elective college music course was meeting in the evening. The night was cold and the heat in the classroom didn't work properly. The students kept their coats and scarves on and the professor, a former concert pianist, was bundled in a heavy, but very comfy-looking sweater. It was nearing the end of the semester, and a young lady stood at the front of the class, giving an oral presentation of her term paper.
She cleared her throat and began, "Beethoven. A deaf composer for a deaf audience."
A collective murmur of curiosity arose from the students, many of whom had started to doze off all cuddled up in their layers of winter jackets and sweaters.
The professor, whose attention had probably waned due to the constant drone of amateurish recitations of facts he was intimately aware of, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. As the student continued her diatribe indicting Beethoven for bombarding his listeners with discordant notes that failed to coalesce into anything resembling a work of art, the musician-professor interrupted.
Clearly trying to control his temper, he asked, "Where did you get your information?"
The girl appeared stunned at the brewing hostility she heard in his voice. "Um, on-on the Internet," she stuttered.
The enraged professor stood. Through gritted teeth, he spat, "Just because you read it on the Internet doesn't make it true."
True story. I was in the audience/class. I can't be sure, but I think she failed.
I'd like to think that people who are growing up with technology would better understand the origin of so-called information that you find there, but sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case. This past election demonstrated that.
Reams of Memes
My Facebook page became unusable during the 2016 US election. My news feed was filled with silly ridiculous memes that stretched truths, made sarcasm read as serious news and spread outright lies. My usual relaxing and enjoyable stream of cat pictures and videos was infected by images of politicians that completely undid all of the blood pressure-lowering effects of my Internet felines.
Now, I dislike engaging in the practice of telling - or being told for that matter (I am only human) - that something someone believes in isn't true, but this was ridiculous. And like I said, it was ruining my morning cat time. So, initially, I investigated each one of these outrageous claims and then posted the truth (with sources) with the original poster. The individual would usually say something like "that's a relief" and then proceed to re-post it within a few weeks. I gave up. Clearly these people would never acknowledge that they had allowed their opinion to be influenced or changed by either ultra conservative or extremely liberal websites that claimed to know the truth.
However, recently, the sharing of silly memes and fake news stories has officially become dangerous. A man actually opened fire in a restaurant because people had forwarded and shared ridiculous emails/posts/tweets purporting something called "Pizzagate" - an alleged child pornography ring involving Clinton and her contacts, even though it had been widely debunked as false. Does someone need to die before we all become more conscientious about what we forward/share/post?
This is not about which candidate you supported. This is about the truth. If we are going to depend on social media for information, we need to ensure that what we are reading or sharing is true. Don't share posts from The Onion without stressing that it is sarcasm. Don't share news stories from ultra conservative or extremely liberal sources. Look for the truth that lies between.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-pizzeria-attack-underscores-fake-news-dangers-191200756.html
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/11/02/liberal-news-conservative-news-and-fake-news/
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