Fake News Hurts Everyone, But Trump

It’s hilarious now that every time I say Fake News, I say it in Donald Trump’s voice.  Nobody has used the term more times than the 45th President of the United States of America.  He should brag about that of all things.

And as much as we make fun of him, he does have a point.  Fake news has been detrimental, not to him but to our society.  You see, the real news is Donald Trump saying that he likes to grab women’s genitals.  Fake news is Donald Trump saying that to trap Billy Bush.

However, it’s not just politics where fake news has spread its symbiotic goo of lies to.  No, it’s affecting other things as well, like the market.  According to the Star article titled “Fake news causes Bata to lose RM500,000”, the self-explanatory title pretty much sums up how harmful fake news can be.  Bata had to withdraw 70,000 pairs of shoes because it was alleged that the Arabic word “Allah” was formed in the pattern on the soles and we don’t want to be stepping on God now do we?  Well, it turned out to be a hoax and half a million dollars later, it doesn’t feel very funny, particularly for Bata.

So why is fake news so destructive?  Is fake news new?  The bitter truth is no.  It’s ever present in our own personal lives.  Yeah, fake news has been around for a while.  Those gossips at the water cooler at 4p.m. hardly spout out any truths.  “Did you hear Jim from Accounting got overlooked again?  I heard it’s because that new girl, Jenna, is easy on the eyes.”  “Poor Jim, wouldn’t life be easier as a girl?”  I’m sure females aged 13-50+ disagree once a month.

So how did it get so out of control?  How did we end up here?  Well, we don’t need to look any further than the Information Age.  We are in it now.  We get information instantly, at our fingertips, at our call.  That’s great.  It’s great for convenience.  It’s great for knowledge.  It’s definitely great for cheating at trivia.  “It was released in 1964!”  “How did you know that?  Nobody was born then.”  “I’m just smart.”

There’s one thing though that the Mark Zuckerbergs and the Steve Jobs and the Larry Pages of the world did not take into account.  Could it be possible that maybe, just maybe, information can be untrue?  And if you argue against that, allow me to nip it in the bud.

We are part of Whatsapp family group chats and even if you’re not, you have family.  And if you don’t have that, pretend you do for a moment.  We all have that one relative who shares all these conspiracy theories and myths.  Yes, some may turn out to be true but I don’t think wearing the color brown helps you lose more weight and I don’t think our microwaves have cameras to help others spy on us.

You probably read those two facts of fiction in disgust if not confusion.  Now that you have that feeling, I believe it’s important that you march forward with that mindset.  You have to research for trustworthy sources, read up, experience some things for yourself…  Basically, you can’t take anybody’s word for it.  And even if you do, you can’t do it always and you can’t do it blindly.  We are humans, not sheep.  So the next time you think something may be true, think about taking a photo using a microwave.  We cannot afford to have a market of consumers easily misled.

It sounds funny and all but fake news causes immeasurable harm at times.  In the case of Bata, they lost money and their image suffered too.  Schools banned students from wearing Bata.  Yeah, it was that bad.  Actions may be more powerful than words but don’t underestimate the impact words can make.  A lie can be as powerful as a loaded gun to the forehead.