"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." -Abraham Lincoln

A little earlier in the course, I talked about misinformation and the role we, as networked individuals, have in preventing the spread of information.  I'd like to explore and highlight this point again in the context of the 2016 election, as it deeply concerns me.  On  my Facebook feed, I see intelligent people, on both sides of the political spectrum, falling for misinformation on a fairly regular basis.  And I'm not immune to it either. To be honest,   I am not sure whether I am noticing more misinformation because there is more of it as presidential campaigns pick up, or, more likely, because I am more attuned to it than ever before. Regardless, as we get closer to the 2016 election, we need to be even more careful about misinformation.  If we're not careful, it could change the election and, potentially, the course of the country.

 For example, I've recently noticed people are falsely attributing quotes to people who didn't actually say them.  These quotes are meant to unfairly harm reputations.  No, Donald Trump did not saying  that "Dr. Walter Palmer did nothing wrong and I will pay his legal fees." Likewise, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, never said that “Slavs, Latin and Hebrew immigrants are human weeds … a deadweight of human waste … Blacks, soldiers and Jews are a menace to the race.”   Similarly, Obama is not running for a third term.  No one is trying to establish Sharia Law in the United States.  Planned Parenthood is not selling baby parts.  Regardless of your political leanings, these are reputations these people and organizations do not deserve.  If they lose funding or elections for the wrong reasons, I think we all lose.

Whenever you read something that seems implausible, it probably is.  Check Snopes, check Politifact to confirm the truth in what you read.  It is not just about making sure you are informed.  It is about making sure everyone is informed.  If you are able to correct people, and point out misinformation, you can propagate the correct information through your networks.  And, in the political context, this is essential because we need to address real problems and issues, and not waste our time on nonsense.

The first Republican debate is tonight, and I am curious to see how everything goes.  Not necessarily because I care deeply about the electoral process, but because there will be lots of gaffs and misspeaking.  And it will be a bit of fun to parse out the truth and discuss it in my networks.

 

 To end, here's a little humor about how trustworthy the internet is: