These days, we are awash in falsehoods. Social media have been a blessing. But they have also been a curse. Robin Sears writes:
Someone leaked an email allegedly from a People’s Party of Canada organizer suggesting that non-white Canadians who join their nascent organization should be put on display in front of the camera, but never consulted about policy, “…as they are all liberals anyway.” It strains credulity, however, that any racialized Canadian would find the anti-immigrant, Islamophobic message of the Bernier blowhards attractive.
So the message may have been fake, as the party instantly declared, but it got a lot of attention and probably did some damage, whether fake or real.
More troubling was the reaction of YouTube and Facebook to a doctored video, now viewed millions of times, that showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as drunk. Facebook refused for days to take it down. No matter how improbable the source or the claim, some of smear will stick with some people – even after it has been amply disproven. Islamaphobes and Pelosi haters will continue to believe and circulate nonsense.
Recently, governments --particularly in Europe -- have been trying to regulate the new media giants. But, ultimately, the ability to exercise critical thinking will determine what kind of legs these stories have. It's become much easier for the new Dr Goebbels -- and there are several -- to exercise their dark arts.
Something to think about as we enter our federal election.
Image: The University Times
