The Foal and the Sage Stallion

by Ptolemy Walton-Hayfield (year 11)

How do we know which sources to trust? 

Foal: I can barely run; I always trip over my own hind legs! 

Lion: Well, foolish foal, when you run you should close your eyes!

Lizard: Foal, when you run you should stop breathing! 

Foal: Really? 

Foal tries to run without breathing and with his eyes closed, fails then cries. 

Stallion: Foal, don’t cry. You just need to get information from valid sources. To be able to run, you must gallop by moving your legs together: your hind legs take off and your forelegs land.

Foal tries and succeeds, Lizard smiles and Lion roars.

Lizard: I was wrong! Different from lizards, horses can breathe when they run.

Lion: Now I will go hungry! Foal will run too fast for me to catch her!

Stallion (to Foal): You can gather information about where to look and how to breathe while galloping. However, before trusting new sources, you must consider their credibility and whether they are biased. 

(to everyone) Within this age of ever expanding technology, sources are important. Foal gathered information from Lizard and Lion, but Lizard had no knowledge of how horses run and Lion just wanted to make it easier for himself to catch Foal. 

During a crisis, it is not easy to know which sources are reliable. Some divulge information that sounds authoritative without having expertise, and others identify vague connections between events to construct a theory that benefits them.