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| Bustatroll.org |
It is no secret that the internet is filled with a vast amount of information that some of it will happen to be false. However, with strong opinions and beliefs ingrained in the minds of technology users, you can’t change their opinions. News flash: Fake news is real!
Christopher Blair, a 46-year sitting in his darkroom feeds off of the obliviousness of Trump-supporting conservatives. His website America’s Last Line of Defense with over 225,000 followers dons warnings and statements declaring that the content being posted it satirical and “nothing on the page is real.” From posts like Donald Trump is NOT a Racist – Here’s a List of All His Black Friends to On This Day in 2007, Obama Awarded Jeff Epstein The Medal of Freedom, Facebook users are sitting back, reading, sharing and without a doubt internalizing this content as if it was truly happening right in front of their eyes.
Once your Facebook friend Likes or Shares a post, it then shows up on your timeline. The issue with sharing content from a website such as Blair’s is that the warning of satire and disinformation is no longer attached to the work being shared with the masses. It gets lost and oftentimes forgotten unless the website is visited. Blair saw an opportunity after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas. He wrote an article about an Imam that refused to let people who were not Muslim to seek shelter during the storm. His article included a photograph of an actual Imam in Canada, Ibrahim Hindy, who was then a target of fake news. His picture and story appeared and reappeared on twitter which was shared more than 126,000 times.
The effect that these articles have is immense especially when people do not realize that what they are reading is satirical content. We need to be smarter when it comes to the actions that we make whether that is creating satirical content online and clearly stating that it is satirical and sharing misleading information.
I love that your title was eye-catching and it drew me in instantly. I also like how you utilized a bit of humor in your post and formulated your argument. Your acknowledgement and use of example for the consequences that came with Blair's actions was well done. One think I would suggest is that there was more time taken with examining the threat of theses articles in your ending paragraph. I also think another topic that could have been explored with Blair is his lawsuit threat with Snopes. That dynamic and his arguments used would be interesting to unpack.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the premise of your article, and including the piece about the Canadian Imam facing harassment is even more damning. Although Blair may think he is shaming fools, he is really making the issue much worse. A huge portion internet users were never taught to look out for disinformation on the internet and treat everything they see as legitimate. Blair ignores this and his pieces reinforce the problem. To make this article, you could tie in the fact that the vast reach enabled by the internet has allowed disinformation to spread faster and to more people than ever.
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice and concise post overall. I really enjoyed the fact that you didn't go too deep into details regarding fake news and Blair's website, but rather you touched on it enough so that any outside reader could understand the material you discussed. One thing I would do different is to add in connections from the class readings and connect them to your topic. I would personally suggest connecting it to Harry Frankfurt's "On Truth, Lies, and Bullshit" because it's very relatable to your topic of 'Fake News.' Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and informative read!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this article, and it touches on some fascinating points. I only have two suggestions that could possibly bolster the post. First, making more connections that tie into your purpose and make it feel more robust. Second, if I had not had the background info I have from within this class, I might be confused as to what the post is centrally about. Is it this specific incident? Is it that posts, like this, in general are wrong, or is it about Blair specifically. All around, very interesting read though!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this article not only because it was captivating but because I enjoyed hearing your voice in this post and could see that you were passionate about this subject. One thing I would suggest adding is maybe a personal moment, for example, if you have ever seen fake news and believed it to be true and how you found out it was fake.
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