To believe, or not to believe. That is the question.
I didn’t mean to invoke Shakespeare—sort of—but I am hip-deep in sorting out news from fake news.
Did Meghan Markle threaten Harry with divorce?
Does Kushner plan to relocate all Palestinians to the Mediterranean seaside?
Did Elizabeth Warren call Bernie Sanders a sexist?
How about this:
Black Friday is named after the day slaves were put up on the auction block.
On his deathbed, man reveals who was really behind 9/11 (photo on man in hospital bed).
FBI apologizes to Guantanamo prisoners.
Jamal Khashoggi’s body parts found in a well in Turkey.
Hang on. The best is yet to come: Ketchup is made of animal blood paste, alcohol, urine and cocaine. This video hit my WhatsApp group. It had gone viral. As an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), a few times a day I go into my WhatsApp groups and delete all videos—without watching them. My excuse: If I watched every video, that is all I would be doing. I wouldn’t have time to read, write, eat, or cuddle up with my husband. Yet, I clicked on this video. The caption was too enticing, and I was tempted. And there it was: a video of ketchup in the making, all that yukky stuff being added to it. Watching it, I am thinking: Why on earth would the manufacturer add urine? And cocaine! Who could afford Coc-chup! Imagine half the world walking on a high. And viewers actually believed this and are forwarding it, warning their loved ones! Goodness! I got to get to the bottom of this.
I un-cuddled myself from my husband, put aside the book I was reading, stopped eating, and went onto Google—my screen time adding minutes. Isn’t Google totally amazing! All I typed was: ‘Is it true that ketchup contains……?’ A disclaimer popped up. The video was true, but the voice-over was Fake. The video was of ketchup in the making, showing tomato paste, (not animal blood paste) nectar (not alcohol), onion powder (not cocaine), spices….. Check it out here. The manufacturer had put up a claim stating that just the cost of removing the odor or urine would make ketchup a very expensive product; and cocaine would make it un-affordable. I did wonder about the motivation for making the fake video, but what really boggled my mind was: viewers bought it! Now if you believe that poison is added to your food, your first impulse is to warn your loved ones. And its spreading like the SARS virus.
There is more. I am chatting over herbal tea (peppermint) with a friend.
“Bolton is going to donate all the proceeds of his book to killing Iranians,” she says.
“Where did you hear that?” I ask.
“It’s in the news.”
“Which network?”
“Let me show you.” She pulls out her phone and pulls up the ‘news.’
I peer, squinting my eyes. “The Onion published it. Onion is a satirical news website.”
I didn’t mean to embarrass my friend, but I had to let her know.
And this is how many of my conversations go. Each time I ask: what is the source?, we hit a dead end. Someone—who knows who—wrote something, posted it on WhatsApp; it sounded intriguing, so the recipient forwarded it to his or her Group, who forwarded it to….and there you have it: the script feels real, because it was written. I just took a punch at myself—I being a writer. So, don’t take my word for any of this: check it out.
My only rule in ruling out fake news: check the source.
Sorry, another rule: If you don’t see the source, DELETE. And cuddle up.
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