Too Good to be False

Talking to a long time friend of mine, the other day, it just occurred to me how powerful a medium the internet is. I know that the World Wide Web offers a whole new range of possibilities to us all and that’s great. But at the same time you have to be very careful with information you get solely from online sources.

You really have the world at your fingertips every time you turn on your computer. And not only that. You also have the power to influence that world by participating in one of the many forms of interaction available.

I, for one, love the fact that I can write about anything that is on my mind here, in my blog. But maybe you, the reader, shouldn’t believe every word typed on this particular URL or any other place online. What I am getting at is the fact that nothing gets verified before it is published on many sites on the web.

This fact requires the sender to double check anything that person is not 100% sure about. This, however, presupposes that the intention of that sender is truthfulness. And when it comes to journalism I would argue that truthfulness is still a top priority for any reporter…I guess you are not a reporter if it isn’t.

But what happens when anyone can write about anything they want? You get a lot of opinions about any topic out there, but at the same time you also get manipulation and lies. And many of us know when something is a lie or “too good to be true.” You double check a dubious statement and find out you were fooled.

But what happens when the lie is “too good to be false?” When someone fabricates “the truth” so well that you can’t tell it is a lie. Well what happens is that you fall for it! And when you find out you were fooled you can’t believe how much work was put into making you buy in to this hoax.