Misinformation

Do you think that having more information at our fingertips makes us smarter? I don’t. I think, society, as a whole has lost most of its brain cells. Everyone is in so much of a rush, that they don’t get all of the information. So, they improvise and then a chain of reactions occurs. Or, perhaps, they just believe everything they read and pass it on without further investigation. Do you all understand why I spend most of my time reading or writing?

So, the other day, I was perusing one of the pages that I follow on Facebook. It is community page that allows the participants to pass on useful information about sketchy shit happening around our area. Most of the time, people are helpful. Sometimes they are paranoid. However, the other night, was a different story. This individual posted that he saw a news story about a guy who pulled a gun on a porch pirate. He also posted the neighborhood which happens to have been mine. Color me curious, so I went to read the actual article, which revealed that it was not my neighborhood. Am I surprised about the misinformation? No. I normally don’t engage, but I felt, in this situation mass hysteria in my neck of the woods would not be very holiday oriented. I simply shared that it was in a different area. His response was, “They said it was behind Best Buy, so I assumed it was that neighborhood”. Do you see my issue? I really wanted to rant. To say, “Hey! Do you know what happens when you assume? Do you go around life just half-assing it because you are too lazy to get all the information?” I didn’t. I restrained my itchy fingers from typing those words. I am maturing, friends.

And while, I have matured in that area, I did engage in a very exaggerated eye-roll along with a verbal “are you f****** kidding me?” as I responded to his post. Yes, this particular incident did annoy me, but it was more of a collective sentiment. The reality that this has become the norm. Knowledge is only powerful if you have the correct information. Maybe that could be one of society’s goals for 2020. Who am I kidding? That is never going to happen. I think I will simply go back to reading and writing. It is safer for everyone if I don’t participate.