Why Fact Checking Is A Moral Responsibility
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Student Life

Why Fact Checking Is A Moral Responsibility

No one wants to be wrong, but we have to at least be willing for it to be a possibility.

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Why Fact Checking Is A Moral Responsibility
Nerdist

Misinformation, disinformation, unbacked rumors and propaganda. We've all seen these things. Sometimes they sneak past us. Sometimes they are so glaring it's almost offensive to see someone believe them. Sometimes they are a simple misunderstanding.

Lately, I have seen even my most scrupulous friends sharing things on social media that have made my eyebrows do all kinds of acrobatics. I get it, sometimes a piece of information seems like the nail in the coffin of somebody I politically or personally just can't agree with. Sometimes a meme or an "EXCLUSIVE" reportage was the cherry on top of my rock-solid case--and I was so eager to prove myself right that I failed to notice the source is host of moon landing conspiracy videos, or pages with "EXPOSED" in the title that cite only a mysterious "expert" without credentials. I've had to publicly apologize for Facebook posts that made even my closest comrades drop me a "Girl, what?" in my private messages.

After a few disasters, I've sworn off sharing before at least a quick web search. Now, if something seems too good, juicy or scandalous to be true, I keep scrolling, or if my instincts tell me it's too dangerous to ignore, I check and make a quick comment on what I find to be factual. I exploit my access to JSTOR and EBSCO when Snopes and FactCheck.org come up dry. If the statement in question is related to an individual or organization, I examine their own websites and social media.

I try to be gentle, but sometimes I fail, and in my crusade for truer memes and a world in which satire is understood to be satire, I reinforce persecution complexes or just make people kind of afraid or tired of me, and push people from looking to me as the Patron Saint of Credibility I strive to be. And really, why should they? I am as fallible as everyone I've fact-checked.

What I wish is for people to question themselves. I am tired of being the scary fact-checking vigilante out to ruin everyone's fun on the net. I want it to be obvious when sources are as fact-based as Clickhole. I want it to be instinctive to at least Google absolute claims without sources. I want it to be easy to find out where a news source or institution gets its funding, in case someone more powerful than readers on the Internet (gullible or not) has purchased a biased platform. I want more value to be on factuality than trendiness and knee-jerk reactivity.

But I know what it feels like to be desperately reluctant to be wrong or to change my mind. I know what confirmation bias feels like. I have been on the wrong side of fact-checkers like me. I don't want to go back, but for now, it feels to me like my desire for the truth makes me responsible for finding and sharing it on my own.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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