A fake news portal wrote, "let there be darkness for six days."
And the world believed.
It took just mere three paragraphs of sloppy storytelling for the space agency to release a statement refuting the "news."
But the world merely shrugged off the truth.
Seven days had already passed and the article is still being shared on social media. After all, it was a subject matter that catches everyone's fancy, besides political and celebrity scandals. Humanity's fascination with the absurd - and the people who believe them will never run out.
This is our bane as a species.
Thus, it would not come as a surprise if some people really did stock up on supplies. Meanwhile, the pious had probably repented and gave away their belongings like the last time - when some televangelist said the Rapture will take place on a specific date. Woe to those who looked forward to the end times. The world didn't turn into cinders and the deceivers went on peddling their lies.
What is even stranger, however, is that no matter how many times these "news articles" and "forwarded texts" lead us astray, we keep on embracing anything and everything that would put a break to our mundane and monotonous lives.
To the point of doubting the information gatekeepers, whose names they always put on the line.
"I think it's a hoax but I'm still distressed." A friend said to me on Twitter.
"Tell me the source and I can tell you if it's true." I said, assuring him of my strong connections with the gatekeepers.
The friend then sent the news link.
"Just by looking at the word "hospitol" and I knew it was absolutely fake." I told him. He promised never to share the link to his followers.
For all intents and purposes, the case is closed between us and our audience.
But in some isolated corners of the social web, where mindless panic edges over scholarly discernment, one click of the mouse button: a retweet, a share, and the world will come tumbling down, forcing authorities to release statements debunking the terrifying things written on the article.
"Tell me the source and I can tell you if it's true." I said, assuring him of my strong connections with the gatekeepers.
The friend then sent the news link.
"Just by looking at the word "hospitol" and I knew it was absolutely fake." I told him. He promised never to share the link to his followers.
For all intents and purposes, the case is closed between us and our audience.
But in some isolated corners of the social web, where mindless panic edges over scholarly discernment, one click of the mouse button: a retweet, a share, and the world will come tumbling down, forcing authorities to release statements debunking the terrifying things written on the article.
1 comment:
The TLDR generation is so susceptible to posts like this. Even funnier are the outraged Onion sharers. haha
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