Todays society’s infatuation with social media has created an epidemic that we know as fake news. The catastrophic side effects are plainly seen more and more each day. With false truths and half stories causing wide spread panic and discord; is seeking the truth a worth while task? The Truth does matter because it helps people make informed decisions, it brings unity, gives them something to stand for and it over all makes us stronger as a people. Fake news causes lies and misinformation to be spread quickly, it is causing people to become disheartened to seek the truth and is dangerous.
“Fake news means a made-up story with an intention to deceive, often geared toward getting clicks"(Tavernise). Based upon the definition of “fake news” it is understandable how lies and misinformation spread so quickly. With technology everywhere we are able to access and create stories with a click of a button. What was once only used for entertainment purposes is now being confused for credible news sources such as “ The Babylon Bee.” While this may be done in gest “fake news” primary objective is for advertisement purposes. Because there is a flood of “click bait” on what seems to be every media source or search engine, its becoming nearly impossible to determine what is real news. The average person doesn’t have time to read and research every article that comes their way. This is creating apathy and disheartened truth seekers. Professor Lynch stated, “There’s no way for me to know what is objectively true, so we’ll stick to our guns and our own evidence. We’ll ignore the facts because nobody knows what’s really true anyway”(Tavernise).
The dangers of being left to ones own devises and opinions with no factual or credible evidence can lead to situations such as the pizzagate incident http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38156985. This incident shows how “fake news” is spread vastly and has impended danger on many lives. Not only was there accusations of Hilary Clinton being involved with this and possibly damaging reputations there was also many lives threatened and taken. To think that this will be an isolated incident is absurd. Until “fake news” is properly categorized people will continue to make irrational and uninformed decisions. If the truth didn’t matter people wouldn’t spread lies and misinformation with out fact checking, they wouldn’t become apathetic or disheartened by the amount of research that is forced upon them to make daily decisions. Finally it wouldn’t cause life threatening events to occur so regularly. In stating that one were to believe that the truth isn’t relevant, the stance taken would have to be one that isn’t dictated by media forms of any kind.
The opposite argument that the “truth matters” is that lies or half truth aren’t the cause of any distress or effect on the general population. The opposition claims that people’s behaviors and decision making would never be affected by “fake news”. One would assume that people are fully capable and willing to read between the lines and decipher the truth on their own. However, “fake news” is chalked full of misleading information and causes such confusion about what is truth, that people don’t know what to believe. Another issue that arises from a lack of truth in the news is the irrational, emotional, and hazardous decision making that people are left to make on their own. The lack of credible sources of news are leaving people to their own theories and opinions about what is the current state that the world is in. While independent thought is encouraged in our country people can not be expected to make informed or educated decisions about any current events when purposefully left uninformed or confused. This lack of access to truthful information is causing the general population to become aggressive, agitated, or complacent.
In conclusion the truth matters for the following reasons, it helps people make informed decisions, it brings unity, gives them something to stand for and it over all makes us stronger as a people. If there were more truth in our media sources there would be less division and more important topics could be addressed. The factual evidence that fake new is detrimental to our society is overwhelming, so we should all come together to educate one another and search for the truth.
Works Cited
Tavernise Sabrina. “As Fake News Spreads Lies, More Readers Shrug At The Truth.”
New York Times, 6 Dec. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/us/fake-news-partisan-republican-democrat.html. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.
Wendling Mike. “The Saga of ‘Pizzagate’: The Fake Story That Shows How Conspiracy Theories Spread.” BBC, BBC Trending, 2 Dec 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38156985. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.