I wanted to take some space this week and talk about living in the real world versus living in some fantasy world, which seems to be all the rage these days.
The real world does exist even for those of you who think social media provides all of the information you need. I hate to burst your bubble, but social media is arguably one of the worst things that has happened to society in generations.
There was once a time when people actually had to do research, check facts and much more. But those times have gone, thanks to social media and now the surge in artificial intelligence.
Today, people can just type in a few words and the next thing you know, they are posting something they didn’t write — and trust me, it shows. I know AI writing compared to actual writing. No comparison.
This is what it has come to not just in America, but around the world. Tell people a lie enough times, and many start believing it is actually true.
Sure, this has been the case for years. Take the flat earth people or those who still say we didn’t land on the Moon even though there is video evidence.
But those were the good old days when most people just shrugged their shoulders and knew it was “those people.”
Not anymore.
Today, people gobble up false information like it’s chocolate and then spew it out wherever they can, convincing even more people that what is really false is actually true.
This is a problem, folks, and why our society is teetering on the absurd. No longer do facts matter. Nope. It’s whatever this influencer says or that “expert” and even the talking heads who people think recite the gospel.
For someone in my position, it’s the one issue that has changed my profession more than any other. Even more than the internet itself.
Part of what we do now is dispel rumors and innuendo. We have to put in print actual facts to counter the lies others put out there for the world to consume. It’s a tiring thing and one that, to me, speaks to our society in general.
What happened to people actually finding out the truth for themselves? Where have those days gone? When did it become acceptable to tell lies and nobody can do anything about it?
I often tell people that if their children lied as much as some of the people in power, the kids would be sitting in the corning staring at the wall for months at a time.
Or am I mistaken here? Do we blame some of this on the parents who teach their children that giving out false information is acceptable as long as it goes with their belief system?
Maybe.
You see, being in the profession of journalism my entire career has meant you have to do the work, put in the time and produce factual information for the public. They can then decide how they feel about various issues.
It is still the proper way to run a news organization, but the advent of social media has made it an entirely different ballgame. No longer do we just look for the facts, find them and report fairly.
Those days are gone. Now we not only have to do all of that, but then we have to counter the keyboard cowboys who do nothing but sit at a computer and send out false information that is believed by too many people.
It’s an entirely different aspect to this profession and one I certainly don’t like. But what I like means nothing so even when people are training in journalism schools around the country, they now have to be taught this new part of being a good reporter.
It’s such a sad comment on how our society has changed so much in the blip it time I’ve been involved covering the news.
There is little question that social media and AI have changed the game. But is the game better? Not in my opinion, but that doesn’t really matter at this point.
I would imagine there will come a day when people may wake up and realize where this is all heading. If they don’t, the slippery slope will be unavoidable and the outcome will be anything but good.
I am in no way saying people don’t have the right to speak out. Of course they do; it’s why I have been doing this for so long. Everyone has a First Amendment right to speak their minds.
It’s just so unfortunate so many choose to do that without actually understanding the issues and what is really involved in determining factual information as opposed to believing some computer chip located in the middle of Nebraska.
Yet here we are.
There are no easy solutions to this. In fact, there may not be any solutions.
As anyone in the business world knows, dealing with people is the hardest part of everything you do. People are going to be people, it just seems in recent years, too many don’t care if they tell lies nor do they care about the impacts those can have on others.
That’s not even mentioning those who get their feelings hurt if you tell them they are wrong. Let me tell you, if I sulked and whined publicly every time someone told me I was wrong, there would be no time left to do anything else.
When I was breaking into this business, the one thing that was made perfectly clear to me was about having “thick skin.” You better have it to listen to everything I have to hear each week.
Yet the keyboard warriors seem to get all offended if someone disagrees with them or states another opinion. They just can’t handle it if someone says they are flat wrong. Even when they are flat wrong.
Whatever happened to having that thick skin? Whatever happened to knowing that in some cases, all of us have been wrong and should change our position?
If someone’s child tells a parent something they don’t like, it doesn’t mean the child is wrong. It could mean that, but there are cases in which a parent might want to take a look in the mirror and rethink a position or two.
I experienced this growing up. I admit I was wrong more than I was right, but there were times when I knew I was right and I let it be known. In a few cases, attitudes did change when an adult saw that a younger person could be correct.
Now, though, it seems some of the adults refuse to admit what they are saying and doing actually is wrong and very few will ever admit it, let alone tell the world.
Maybe they should let AI tell the world. On social media. Or even, wait for it, in a public setting for everyone to hear.
Nah, never happen.
Now, back to actually gathering facts and writing the truth.
Greg Little is editor of the Mariposa Gazette and can be reached at greg@mariposagazette.com
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