Reality Check
If you think you have a right to an opinion that is based on "alternative facts" or out of context cherry-pickings, think again. Yes, we all have a right to our own opinions, but if an opinion is based on lies, it is not an opinion. It is a joke, it is a show of ignorance, you have no right to spread it around as if it was fact, and anybody who has checked the facts has every right to cross you on it.
This applies to both left and right, but the bulk of the "alternative facts" epidemic has come and still comes from the right. We desperately need to get out of our black hole of ignorance. Every single thing we see and hear via every type of media (radio, TV, print and especially online) needs to be verified to see if it is reality.
Too much work to check a story out before you share it? Keep it to yourself, then. Here are a few tips about posting. I'd be glad to list other tips, too, if you have them.
- If the article you want to post is mainly speculation but you'd like to put it out there to discuss it, identify it as such in your post. Don't put it out there like it's something that is for sure going to happen. It makes you look like a conspiracy-theorist idiot.
- If the headline is extremely misleading or false click-bait, even if the article checks out, don't post it.
- Is the article undated? Red Flag! No reputable media outlet will post something without dating it. Don't post it unless you thoroughly check it out, and then only if you state that you thoroughly checked it out.
- If it is old news or it is referencing old news as if it just happened, don't just post the article without stating the relevant date in your post.
- Look on the site you are re-posting from and make sure that it is not a satire or hybrid (part reality, part satire) site. Don't make yourself look like a fool by getting up in arms about a piece of cynical humor.
- "But it goes along with my views! I want to post it!" Don't post it unless you check the facts, especially when it is something that people know fits right in with your views. Keep your credibility; check it out first.
- "It's a free country - I can post whatever I damned well please!" If you want it to stay a free country, realize what a threat the spreading of false information is to our democracy and in turn, our freedom. Stick with facts!
- Be careful what you believe! Many political entities have an agenda, and that agenda is to get you to think the way they want you to think, any way that they can do it. Step back and look at the possible motives behind an article. Take the blinders off, hold it up to the light and question it with an open mind. That's not called being a liberal, it's called critical thinking.
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| Love, Mothra |
