Why Fake News Is Probably a Good Thing.
Fake news could be a good thing for us. Anything that shocks people from the default settings in which they are programmed to devour anything in their Facebook feed without the ironic distance or critical distance required to question the sources and claims of news channels.
As far as I can tell, we face (at least) two different kinds of fake news. First, claims about states of affairs that are simply false, and knowingly false. Second, people’s reception of fabricated facts and they way they spin these fabricated facts to fit contextually with their worldview.
As long as human populate the planet there’s the specter of “fake” haunting communication. Facebook, Google, Twitter, or Breitbart news didn’t invent this phenomenon.
Digital platforms have enabled the democratization and scale of distributing fake news. Corporate media hates fake news only because they no longer have a monopoly on its distribution. —As if the NYT didn’t peddle garbage about WMD.
Fake news should inspire FAQ news. Frequently Antagonistic Questions about our news and its sources. We should wield and equip ourselves with an incessant and relentless skeptical impetus to understand and seek understanding.
Truth is not something that just lands in your News Feed. You have to work for that shit. It takes effort. It’s an adventure that many undergo throughout their whole lives. It takes courage. You need something like a Sapere aude guiding your journey to understand the world and its complexities.
No one, not even “those who study knowledge”, are going to produce an algorithm that simply and conveniently reduces knowledge and truth to an elevator pitch. Moreover, we can’t idly and lazily sit back and demand of Facebook and Google and Germany that they do the work of truth for us. It’s the responsibility of a responsible citizen, and our duty as agents in the world to assess the claims we receive from whatever source.
Great post!
Thanks @complexious. Most of those who employ the term "fake news" seem to assume they have some privileged, non-problematic access to the truth. I'm not a relativist by any means...but, like I said, truth requires some effort. It's not always an elevator pitch you can formulate in 140 characters or access immediately. Thanks for reading.
I absolutely agree with your post regarding truth does not land in your news feed. I don't believe Fake News is a good thing. Unfortunately, I believe that most of the population is too lazy or has been indoctrinated in their belief system to objectively evaluate what they are reading or listening to and they tend to create their own truth based upon either their indoctrination, popular trend, or salacious story.
Hey Joel...thanks for the reply. I don't want to advocate or condone the act of creating or spreading fake news. —Don't think you interpreted me as saying that. But, just trying to find a potential positive in the fake news epidemic. Perhaps we're less willing simply to accept "truth" or the source of truth given everything that's happened in the past two years. Fake News also isn't something that is co-emergent with digital technologies. It's really a provocation to write this post. But, I think, at this point, anything that can short-circuit humanity from their indoctrination in a belief system and expedite a critical distance can be a positive. Let's hope that happens, even if there's a small chance of that.
Understand and agree with you, but the bitter old man in me is not as optimistic as I once was :)