Most of us are familiar with Greek Mythology. We’ve all been told at least one story about how someone defied the gods and was punished with some kind of natural disaster. I have always been a fan of how magical and interesting these tales make the world seem. I can imagine, when there’s a tsunami, that a huge Viking-like blond dude with a trident is pissed off and playing with the ocean like a kid would play with Tonka trucks. Exciting, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, though – it’s a myth.
Where am I going with this? Down the Information Superhighway; or, in our current case, the Misinformation Superhighway.
The Internet seemed like a great thing. At first. You could get information quickly and easily without having to pay. Videos of anything you could imagine became readily accessible. One would think that from this platform would spring thousands of possibilities for education. Scientific journals would be available to enlighten us on current research topics. People already in school would easily further their educations, and people not in school could actually glean information to the point of having the equivalent to a degree.
Well, in our dreams, at least.
Instead, the Internet is currently a cesspool of propaganda and stupidity. Anyone can write a blog post or an article. Anyone has the right to believe anything they want, because all of the information is free to read and use. Not only that; it’s convincing and provocative, just like the Greek Myths. I mean, what’s more appealing; the sun rises and falls because the planet is rotating and moving in a specific way, or the sun rises because a dude in a fucking chariot driven by unicorns is TOWING the sun across the sky for us?
I rest my case.
The popularity of the information found on the Internet is inversely proportionate to the truth it contains. The more lies and conspiracies an article contains, the more “likes” and “views” it receives. My brother-in-law Kurt wrote about how reality is really mostly boring, which is why we have science fiction, fantasy, television, etc, etc, to spice up the humdrumness of it all. This is a fact people tend to forget as soon as they turn their computers on. Intelligence instantly evaporates when we are faced with a piece of writing that is controversial or conspiratorial. We have this weird human instinct to gravitate towards lies to make our lives more exciting. Let me exemplify it a few different ways:
Health: Last week, I spoke to a friend of a friend. This person, who I will call Moltox to avoid offending anyone with an existing given name, informed me of a number ways in which current medicine is incorrect. He told me that eyeglasses are bad for you and that there are other, better ways to deal with our health which, for some reason, I had never heard of! He proceeded to link me to various very poorly-made websites that preached about auras, energy, and mental strength, but sold 2500$ golden balls to carry around with you that would “align your energies”. This person told me that he could choose which foods are healthy simply by focussing on them and merging his energies with the food’s. He told me that he could move bones into place with his mind and that he has healed people this way before.
Sounds mind-blowingly exciting, doesn’t it? Maybe like something you’d catch on an old episode of Star Trek? Warning lights go off while reading it at all? Next thing you’ll hear is that this person refused to go to the hospital for lung cancer because he was convinced he could crush the cancer with his mind. Well, survival of the fittest, I suppose. If people are THAT prone to naivety, I say let them fade out. It will give the human race a better chance as a whole. It’s brutal, but it’s true.
Next example.
Let’s go with politics this time. As it is election time currently, shit is far worse. What’s really amazing is how every website and blog suddenly has accurate graphs and charts with numbers showing how Obama killed the economy. Or how much money Romney spends. Or how much he will take away with tax cuts. Amazing how everyone knows these numbers! Do you have any idea how easy it is to make a graph from your house with a simple paint program? Allow me to demonstrate:
BAM. Amazing, isn’t it? Now check this one out. Instant conspiracy. A person’s weight graphed against the number of donuts eaten – but look at this! Lo! And Behold! If you EAT ENOUGH DONUTS, you won’t get fat anymore. The government has been lying to us all along! Obama has withheld this information from us the whole time!
Do you see how dangerous this can be? If I can spend literally 45 seconds making this graph and writing a two-paragraph blurb about how donuts are actually good for you, imagine what people with time on their hands could do.
A snap of the fingers, and…
The president wasn’t really born here anymore! The government only puts grains on the top of the food chain because it’s the cheapest food to produce, and grains are causing the diabetes epidemic!! Ye Shiwen didn’t really win any Olympic medals! Table salt is actually ground up glass and sand! The President is secretly trying to suppress us all and has opened up secret concentration camps to torture people! Using a piece of paper instantly kills five trees in the rainforest! There are abortion factories where the Devil encourages young people to have sex and then profits monetarily from their abortion procedures! Oh, and Harry Potter is not only written by the Devil himself, but reading the books gives you magical (Satanic) abilities like telekinesis and pyrokinesis!
Believe it or not, these are all articles that have not only been written (some by the Onion), but BELIEVED. By millions of people. They caused a spread of propaganda over the Internet in a matter of hours. It is embarassing that this is what people are doing with their time instead of using the Net as an educational tool. They read and wait for the familiar feeling that “Wow, I was right, the government is screwing us over.” It’s almost like a drug. The more unbelievable the article is, the more they are inclined to believe it.
Can this be reversed? Probably not. But I implore anyone who is reading this to do more, better research when you hear/read about or see something. If this blog post scared you, good. It should. Stupidity is contagious and we need to vaccinate against it.
Don’t take anything at face value.
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Extra thanks to Kurt Foster for writing his own rant and further inspiring me. If I can get a link to his at some point, I will include it here.