The widespread problem of fake news stories has taken over the lives of many Americans. With millions of Americans getting their news from sites such as, Facebook, it is obvious where one could see a dilemma.
Just a few days ago I was sitting in my apartment watch HLN and they were talking about how a man had read about the so called “pizza-gate” and walked in with a gun and sent customers (including children) running to the exit. I wish I could say that I was surprised to hear of such a thing happening, but it doesn’t surprise me at all and would lead me to discussing another topic that I do not wish to discuss. As I got my breakfast and continued to listen, they discussed how not long before this, that two women barged into the pizza place to ask the owner multiple questions about things that were discussed in the article, such as where was the basement?
On this Wednesday night, I opened up Buzzfeed to take a break from studying for my American Government exam. I took one of their funny quizzes and then stumbled upon an article about fake news and how Congress is refusing to do anything about it. Again I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m just not. The article, however, led me to writing this because I wanted to get my thoughts out about fake news stories.
It really bothers me as a citizen that the government does not want to make sure that its citizens are getting the correct information about what is happening in the world. Back to my American Government class, one of the first things we discussed was who has political knowledge and most of the people that have it are those that have high levels of education and are wealthy. Wealthy people don’t get their news from sources such as Facebook.
Now some people may not see fake news as such a big deal, but I highly disagree. I think that this is a huge problem considering those who don’t have good news sources probably wouldn’t know that these stories are fake and probably wouldn’t think to check its accuracy, which leads to people “self-investigating” stories and bringing a gun along for I don’t know what reason.
Imagine a world where we all knew the truth that we are allowed to know about news, it would be amazing. Everyone would be able to make informed decisions about elections and anything else. It would be a world where the elite wealthy wouldn’t look at lower class people and think of them as uneducated, even if they have spent thousands and years to get a degree. Now I don’t speak for anyone other than myself, but I honestly believe that someone needs to do something about fake news before something worse happens.
