Fabricated Information -

A while back, someone sent me an open letter supposedly written by Steven Spielberg, and urged me to pass it around. I did a little research and found that the letter, while thought-provoking, was actually written by a fellow named Steven Silberberg. Doesn’t have quite the same weight behind it now, does it?

We are living in an age where information can make its way around the globe in seconds. Usually, as we’ve said in previous Commentaries, that’s a good thing. But sometimes, it’s not. Every Tom, Dick, and Hannah has their own blog, website, or other forum to put forth their take on things. Some are well-researched and carefully thought out, and others are essentially gibberish. But there’s also another kind the intentionally fabricated falsehoods. And it’s alarming how quickly these falsehoods become treated as facts.

Consider this: When French composer Maurice Jarre died earlier this year, a student posted a fictional quote into Jarre’s Wikipedia page. It was removed by moderators, but still managed to make its way into newspapers worldwide. The student proved his point admirably that the internet cannot be relied upon as an ultimate research source. At least, not without some due diligence.

Even "seeing is believing" can’t be taken as truth any more. For twelve dollars, we can go see robots destroying buildings and dinosaurs chasing Will Ferrell. Using modern day software, fabricated videos permeate the web.

Which brings me to my point. A wise man once said "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear". Healthy skepticism is SMART. It keeps us from looking foolish, and, more importantly, it helps keep misinformation under control.

So, always be wary. Especially of information being passed on by your friends and without a named, credible source. Do a little research. Snopes dot com is a great resource for checking out the truth behind a lot of "amazing" "true" stories. No matter how disappointed we might be to find out that "The Gerbil Story" is a hoax, the truth is always a good thing. Remember, you’re either part of the solution, or part of the problem...and if you pass along falsehoods...you are definitely part of the problem.