Discerning Through The Age of Disinformation
Written by James Carner
America has had its share of conspiracy theories. From Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy, rumors and disinformation have spread wildly between the news and gossip by the time it reaches your eyes. The problem with hearsay is we will never know what happened during any incident. Hence the phrase there are two sides to every story. So when we read about something, we would be foolish to assume the author has all the facts. Especially in history books. And now, we have a new phrase called “fake news” which for 3 years has proven to be true by the lies of America’s media sources.
Your emotions won’t cooperate
What can we trust? Whom can we trust? How do we navigate between the media narrative, the independent sources and hearsay? Trust your gut? Ask of your elders? Find more information? Ask through your faith? There are ways. In fact, this article will arm you with critical thinking so you can make a rational argument to what you are seeing or hearing. The first rule in discerning from information is feelings. Feelings do not dictate data. How you feel and what the information presents are two separate things. In fact they are not related. Political powers have used feelings to persuade opinion and this is a problem.
Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., LMFT sums it up really nice in his article called Feelings Aren’t Facts. “The best thing to do when you are feeling like something isn’t right is to check it out. Don’t sit on it, push it down, or try to ignore it; your emotions won’t cooperate. Sometimes the only way out is by getting into the feelings and first looking at how you might be creating them. Combine that with some gentle (not accusatory) questioning of the person or people who you believe may be the cause. Look for truth and be open to see how it’s possible that your feelings may not be accurate. It also can be helpful to get an outside perspective from someone you trust.”
Professor Kalina Bontcheva wrote a comment I think should be taken seriously, “The past few years have heralded the age of fake news which poses serious questions over the role of social media and the internet in modern democratic societies.” The professor argues that post-truth politics, online propaganda, polarized crowds and partisan media are to blame for ubiquitous disinformation. Since we are bombarded with lies from 4 corners all for political and power agendas, it’s easy to get angry and snap instead of calmly sift through the information and come to a conclusion.
Occam’s Razor is a line of reasoning that says the simplest answer tends to be the correct one. When we are dumped on with a story from all directions, we should first ask ourselves why we are having feelings towards it. Recognize the feeling is just an emotional response and does not dictate the truth, then read it again with a fresh set of eyes looking at both sides of the situation. Then use common sense without judgment as to what the most simple answer would be without throwing in conspiracy, emotions and judgement. After a deep breath and armed with this knowledge, you should be able to discern through this age of disinformation.
Written by James Carner
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