My friend will randomly send me fake news articles that he wants to discuss and it's hard to respond because I don't wanna be the guy that keeps having to correct him. It's not crazy alt-right shit but stuff like "NASA Announced They've Spoken to Four Races of Aliens" that reads like it was written by a high school troll. And I know it's not just him reading this stupid shit. Idk man, the whole thing is just sad that many people can't identify fake information. How do we combat this?
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Fake News is Sad
- Thread starter quesalupa
- Start date
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Unfriend all aunts on Facebook.
nerdypixel
Neo Member
I think that "fake news" that media talks a lot about lately is something beyond NASA communicating with aliens, but it'd be rather easy to correct your friend with wikipedia, NASA website or any other source he trusts.
Khaos Kontrol
Banned
heh
sixteen-bit
Member
Hey did you hear they're discontinuing Reese's peanut butter cups?
What you got against cleanin out poopers?
I know but I keep having to do it 😭
Also, I know dumb articles like these aren't the most extreme problem, but it's the type of fake news I'll more-likely run into in my circle.
Fake news got me earlier this year. I read somewhere that Shoppers Drug Mart was discontinuing their points system (the place is expensive but the points are worth collecting). I ended up spending most of my points in anticipation of this, when I should've held on for the next "level" (the difference between $60 and $85 for free). Ya got me!
Wait... what? Really?
tonysidaway
Member
I tried Facebook a couple of times. It was really awful. I had to disconnect just to maintain my respect for my relatives, who are genuinely lovely people. I am encouraging them to use email more.
M.W.
Member
Nothing wrong with cleansing, lol
One of my best friends is like this, except he doesn't send me stories from Facebook. Some time ago we were talking and he said something like "did you hear about those scientists who drilled a hole so deep they could actually hear Hell through it? they even got recordings of people being tortured down there! Do you believe there's any truth to it?"
I was surprised, to say the least.
I was surprised, to say the least.
D
Deleted member 126221
Unconfirmed Member
How friggin hard can it be to verify the source of what you're reading?! Society is shitting all over itself because most people don't know how to evaluate a source's validity, it's driving me crazy.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Well when the mainstream media is lying to you, what's a person to do?
I live in Eugene, OR...this is my whole social circle haha. I swear if I hear about how good essential oils are for you again...
That stuff doesn't bug me as much as the actual news stuff. Alt medicine and superstition are relatively harmless, at least anecdotally in my life (though I've heard one or two stories of people trying to cure baby problems with essential oils instead of taking their kid to a doctor...no harm done but still). It's the shit like InfoWars that gets my blood boiling, as it has turned many people I know into alt-right hate mongers, when they used to be solid people.
I've cut off contact with those people. Family, at least for me, are a little more understanding if I talk with them about news stuff. Also as a former journalism major, people's journalism literacy really, really bugs me.
DOWN
Banned
??? Yall know like beverage cleanses are fake right? Like drinking certain teas or waters or powders or sweating does not cleanse you
D
Deleted member 126221
Unconfirmed Member
Not trust the first post from "TotallyNotFakeNews.ru" you encounter on your Facebook feed, that's for sure.
NoblesseOblige
Banned
Nah man it like clears out toxins and stuff don't you listen? Toxins are like super bad.
Haunted
Member
Education.
Drive home the importance of critical thinking and scientific methodology. Build up trust in elites and intellectuals again. Combat anti-intellectualism.
I used to work for a guy 3 or so years ago who would occasionally send me stuff like slowed down videos of heavily compressed videos of Obama and people related to him to try and prove to me that they were reptilian. You can only explain video compression and video artifacting and all the other various ways that a video can come out looking weird, especially in slowmo on youtube, so many times. I quit because the dude was also ridiculously sexist and racist but I can't even begin to imagine what it's like talking to that guy now that fake news has become so huge, beyond just conspiracy theories.
Yup. No more Reese's cups after halloween
Holy shit you guys. Can we talk about this for a min? This is important.
Is this because a shortage? Was it because of the hurricanes? Is it medical related?
Someone I'm friends with on Facebook who is pro-Trump literally just posted this on Facebook:
http://www.react365.com/59c41543afcf2/out-of-state-tuition-to-be-eliminated-altogether.html
When clicking on the link, all it literally says is "due to the U.S. and Donald Trump pushing out illegal immigrants, this frees up more room in the budget for college students to get an education anywhere in the U.S."
That's it. No explanation of how it would actually work or anything. But this friend vehemently believes this is real.
http://www.react365.com/59c41543afcf2/out-of-state-tuition-to-be-eliminated-altogether.html
When clicking on the link, all it literally says is "due to the U.S. and Donald Trump pushing out illegal immigrants, this frees up more room in the budget for college students to get an education anywhere in the U.S."
That's it. No explanation of how it would actually work or anything. But this friend vehemently believes this is real.
I hate having to look up if a celebrity had died only to find out that it's just a fake article.
I don't get upset with the horoscope stuff, but it always gets a chuckle out of me. Overheard waiting for my daughter to get out of school, a couple moms talking about how well their kids eat their lunch/dinner.
Mom1: Is your son a Virgo?
Mom2: no, he's a Leo
Mom1: makes sense
And that's as far as that conversation went.
I don't get upset with the horoscope stuff, but it always gets a chuckle out of me. Overheard waiting for my daughter to get out of school, a couple moms talking about how well their kids eat their lunch/dinner.
Mom1: Is your son a Virgo?
Mom2: no, he's a Leo
Mom1: makes sense
And that's as far as that conversation went.
MrSaturn99
Member
I had Trumpers up my ass last night after posting on one of his tweets (big mistake) and one of them had been screaming in my mentions over fake news since last night. It's pathetically transparent shit.
Thankfully I don't see too much of that on my Facebook feed, but the next time I see "false flag events" or Trump-celebrating meme pics that conveniently leave out his evils, I don't think I can ignore them anymore.
Thankfully I don't see too much of that on my Facebook feed, but the next time I see "false flag events" or Trump-celebrating meme pics that conveniently leave out his evils, I don't think I can ignore them anymore.
fierrotlepou
Member
Did you guys know that Facebook will become a paid service soon?
ebullientprism
Member
megarockexe
Member
I actually heard someone at work cite Infowars as a source. If it sounds fake, it probably is.
Should've added the /s, sorry.
Muppet of a Man
Member
No one wants to admit the hard truth, but having highly educated subject matter experts curate what is focused on in media is necessary for a high-functioning representative democracy.
People in general don't have the capacity or attention span for that much critical thinking otherwise.
Did they get bought by Disney? This is the only logical explanation for this despicable move. Man. Maybe we need to call out senators to raise awareness?They're going in the Hershey's Vault. Only Nutrageous from now on
Necron
Member
This really is the only way despite it being extremely slow for things to change.
Gravy Boat
Member
Im am so grateful that no one I am acquaintances with seems to buy into any sort of conspiracy theory.
MDSVeritas
Member
I know what you mean. I've had good friends tell me "Hey did you hear that [outlandish thing that conforms to our mutual interest and leanings]?" And I never want to seem like a downer or seem like I'm criticizing them by continually doubting the things they say, but I try my best to use phrases that can subtly test the validity of it like "Oh, interesting, who's reporting on that?"
Usually with someone who is still somewhat reasonable that will allow them to catch themselves. Like "Oh, uh, I'm not really sure." Though, of course sometimes they just keep on going with "Eh, I dunno, someone" and you just have to make the choice about whether to call it out.
Usually with someone who is still somewhat reasonable that will allow them to catch themselves. Like "Oh, uh, I'm not really sure." Though, of course sometimes they just keep on going with "Eh, I dunno, someone" and you just have to make the choice about whether to call it out.