I left Facebook nearly a week ago, but ventured back on while I was sitting on my laptop waiting to be called for jury duty. I was hoping some ounce of sanity had returned, but, much like having coffee with an ex to reminisce about the old times, it took two seconds for me to realize why I left.
Just look. Scroll down. Keep scrolling. Don't comment. Seriously, do not comment.
What a bunch of crap! Now, I have to comment.
It was an article by some Nooz site (I call it Nooz, because the news is still valid and these sites are anything but), that identified itself by the color of state it represented, which is usually the first hint that whatever is printed is going to be some bullshit. This particular article talked about the good side of Trump's immigration ban; the fact that during the "extreme vetting" an immigrant would be questioned about whether or not they have participated in honor killings, and that thanks to this clause in the immigrant ban, the bad Muslims who harm women, would be kept away from our country.
Of course, I had to take the opportunity to comment about the fact that the countries with the highest rates of honor killings, Female Genital Mutilation, and forced underage marriage were not included in Trump's immigration ban. Also, thanks to this immigration ban, NGOs and nonprofits who are actually on the ground helping women who are victims of this brutality, are now having to go back to the drawing board, in terms of implementing their program, because they aren't able to move their people as easily.
The moment I hit the "enter" key, I knew that I had been sucked down the rabbit hole, but it wasn't for long, because my comment was promptly deleted. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine began purging her Facebook friends, and wiped out all of the Trumpsters. It caused quite a stir amongst our common friends, and, at the time, I wondered if it was the right thing to do. Now I know, I just hadn't gotten there yet.
Fake Nooz enables us to affirm everything we make up in our heads. Obama is a Muslim who took the Oath of Office on a copy of the Koran? Here's the fake Nooz site to confirm for you. Hillary had over 50 people murdered? Must be true if there are two fake Nooz sites and a Reddit feed that says so. Trump orders the firing of all Muslim federal employees. Of course, there's a fake Nooz site that has the story, so it must be true.
I get it. There is nothing more awesome than the feeling of being right, and shoving the fact that you are right in someone else's face. Even the most pious, humble person loves to be right. However, we are in a very precarious time when everyone's need to be right is usurping reality, and that is dangerous. I'm finding it more and more to be commonplace that when an honest news source prints an honest news story, those commenting accuse the news source of being "fake" and that the story is "not believable". There is a rampant belief, instilled by the current administration, that credible news sources cannot be trusted, and this leads to the question, if we cannot trust credible news sources, then who can we trust.
I can get online right now and find over a dozen fake Nooz sites that will tell me exactly what I want to believe, but they are not right, and although it feels good to have my beliefs affirmed, I don't want to live in a world of "yes" men. During my first venture into adulthood, I studied journalism. I took hours of classes learning the history of journalism, studying ethics, pouring over hundreds of pages of legal rulings regarding stories, journalists, and how the news is made and covered. I wrote for my college newspaper, I freelanced for other publications, I discussed real time news stories in a newsroom, I conducted interviews, and I copy edited articles for other writers. I was a trained journalist.
There is a reason why journalism is a profession, and we need to stop this bleeding of the need to have our own theories affirmed through crap Nooz sites, and start doing due diligence. Most of us take pride in the fact that we practice honesty with our friends and family. We don't like lying to the people we love, so why do we share Nooz that we all know, deep down, is fake? It is the same as spreading a lie, and it is causing our society to deteriorate.
When I left Facebook, I immediately subscribed to the New York Times. I took my credit card and paid for a subscription, like back in the olden days when we got our news through papers. The convenience of the online news is great, but the abundance of fake Nooz has become our country's most dangerous addiction, and it's time for us, as a nation, to break this addiction. Sure, dessert is amazing, and we all love to eat it, but if we think we can keep eating nothing but dessert and not get fat, then we are not only delusional, we're just plain stupid.
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