This was printed in The Orlando Sentinel on September 9, 2016.
I used to believe everything on the Internet.
I used to believe everything on the Internet.
Silly me.
Everything you read there
ain't necessarily so.
I went to the web to find
out how many Grammys Stevie Wonder had won. There was a number. Turns out it
was wrong.
What?
Like that song goes, you
have to shop around. You have to go to multiple sites to see if the answer or
answers measure up. You can find all kinds of stuff on the Internet but that
doesn't mean you should take it as gospel.
Since we’re talking…
In the old days as far as
news went you had to be right on something you said. Now it
seems you have to be first.
There's a difference.
I can say you're ten feet
tall and have one eye in the middle of your forehead. Truth is I don't actually
know that but what the hey.
People react to what you
say first and believe it. What people don't hear is the retraction the
next day and what is not real becomes real.
Television is also full of
people, talking over each other, determined to get their point across. It
doesn't matter whether it's a truthful point or not. I'm not crazy about all
the shouting but you know what I love? Every now and then real slips
through the cracks and you see a real moment on the screen. All of a sudden the
camera is just eavesdropping and folks say and do things you can't believe they
say and do.
Also, I'm a Facebook guy
and I dabble in Twitter. I also read newspapers, plural, because I like knowing
things. What gets me every time are the comments people leave after an article
or a post. Man, they can be mean. My mom used to say when we were young,
"Be sweet." Obviously there are people out there who didn't hear that
from their mothers. I think the anonymity helps folks write things they
wouldn't say to your face. If they did, the next sound you'd hear is the sound
of a fistfight.
If you had to write your
real name and address, instead of barkingdog155, it would get real civil, real
quick.
Plus…
We're in the Age of
Innuendo.
People can say, "I've
heard..." about someone and repeat it as if it's true. They used to call
that gossip. In junior high or high school that kind of stuff can get you on a
list you don't want to be on. People say things about other people these days
that are fishy at best and they say them like they're not.
Be careful what you
believe.
The saying is caveat
emptor.
Buyer beware.
#MarkMcEwen
Subscribe to my blog: Mark McEwen's World
Follow me on twitter: @mcewenmark
Like my page on facebook: www.facebook.com/markmcewensworld
And also visit my website: www.markmcewen.com
Brilliant! Oh Mark, if only more people would follow your mom's advice and be sweet.Or as I said in an article I wrote, it's NEVER too late to be kind.
ReplyDeleteThere is a meme floating around on Facebook with the same sentiment spoken by a famous author, say Abraham Lincoln. He remarks something like "Don't believe everything you read on Facebook." I laugh every time someone reposts it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure when the lying and the misrepresenting of facts started. Someone way back when realized how fast the news cycle was, threw something ridiculous out there and watched as the feeding frenzy began. Then, he or she noticed that it didn't matter about the retraction. The kernel of untruth stoked a fire and caught. The damage was done, and he or she was proud. I am sickened by this method of winning in politics. And, I fear it will be proliferated even more if Trump is elected. He's a master of it.