I suppose I can't really get away from the reality that when you're part of social communities on the web, people want to share the things they believe are cool, newsworthy, funny, meaningful or whatever else gets them "going", in some way.
And so, I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets forwarded all manners of news stories, articles, opinion pieces and what have you.
What hides beneath the fog?
Due Diligence?
Now, I'm pretty open minded and willing to look at interesting and unusual theories and stories — who knows, I might actually LEARN something, right?
I guess where I start to feeling like smashing the keyboard over my head is when I receive something with great fanfare and enthusiasm... and it takes me all of five seconds to verify that the person sharing took not even a perfunctory five seconds to verify the veracity of their share... regardless of whether or not the particular news item supports their paradigm, or not.
As I reflected on yet another utterly implausible "news" story, I realized that I am actually less offended by the dumb stories than I am by the complete absence of critical thinking and exercising of due diligence.
But I guess people just don't care.
Afternoon storm approaches...
The Death of Critical Thinking?
Am I being too harsh on the world? To particular and picky? Do I have unrealistic expectations?
When someone sends me something, and adds an exclamation like "This is important!" the first thing I do is run whatever they sent me through several basic fact checks. It does not take a degree in rocket science (just 30 seconds with a search engine) to filter out 90% of hoaxes and made-up stories.
A few do require a little more digging, but I figure I might learn something by doing a little research into a topic that seems a little "off," or perhaps uncomfortably ambiguous.
Yes? So very few people go to the trouble.
Chives in bloom
Establishing the Bias
When it comes to web stories — regardless of whom shared them with me — I like to check the source of a story to get a feel for where they fall on the political and trustworthiness scale.
There are several media bias and fact checking services out there... and if I care enough about a story, I'll cross reference several of them. If both the right and left leaning sources agree something comes from a source that belongs atop the "conspiracy/pseudoscience" list, then I know what lens of perception delivered the piece I am looking at.
It doesn't cause me to not read, it simply tells me where I am going to find the obvious biases that might make a fact look like something else.
Berries in the sun
Who's Doing the Thinking?
You might wonder why I go to so much trouble.
Bottom line, I'm interested in actual facts and news, not the layers and layers of editorializing. I want to know that I am choosing to act on actual SIGNAL and not just NOISE.
Simple example: What's "brilliant" to Breitbart might be "horrible" to The Young Turks. I don't give a shit. I just want to know what lies below, and I'll make my own decision as to what's horrible, and what's not.
And that's kinda where I start to get annoyed with more than a few of my otherwise quite intelligent friends: They forward this crap to everyone and their dog... and yet, if I were to quiz them on what they sent, half the time I draw either a blank, or get to see a fine revelation of that individual's personal cognitive biases.
But actual thinking? Probably not what's happening in their heads.
Guardians of the Nine
Don't get me Wrong...
No, I'm not just a monumental humorless butthead! But I do tend to hold people accountable for what they say and send, at least to a small degree.
If that makes me a "bad" person, so be it! And maybe that's reflective of my own cognitive biases... hereunder a vague fear that that world at large is slowly sliding towards a place that'll look more than a little bit like the movie Idiocracy.
And with that, I shall quietly return to my curmudgeonly corner.
Thanks for reading, and hope you are having a good start to your week!
How about YOU? Do you "fact check" stuff and stories your friends forward to you? Do you take the time to let them know when they are sending outright hoaxes and fabrications? Or does the "noise ratio" not bother you? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20200727 23:52 PDT
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