I started a big rumor last week. I was kind of proud of that. But, we quashed it early. And, that was probably a good thing, too.
How do rumors start? At the core, it begins with misinformation. It stonewalls from there.
There’s a lot of misinformation around these days. Rumors abound. They spread because people “believe” them without doing research or fact checking.
My case started with Adam Scott, the golfer. I “heard” or thought I heard on the Golf Channel while Scott was playing in a tournament that he was 51 years old and was about to join the Senior Tour. I thought, “No way is he that old. He’s about 44.” That was my instinct.
I hit up Mrs. Google. Adam Scott came up on the screen (on my phone, so the shot was small, looked like him and probably partially led to me not exploring further) and it said he was 51. WHOA! I was way off on his age. Couldn’t believe it.
I texted my two brothers this juicy finding, about Scott being 51 and joining the Senior Tour. The next morning I told my wife about this and she looked up Scott and said, “He’s 44.” I go, “WHAT? It said he was 51 yesterday.”
I go back to Mrs. Google. Look up Adam Scott. Find out it is Adam Scott the actor (who I’ve never heard of) who came up first on the Google search, not Adam Scott the golfer. Turns out the golfer is 44, as I had intuitively thought.
I corrected this on text to my brothers. Which led to a discussion on misinformation and starting rumors.
Disinformation/misinformation is easily shared and accepted. My making the statement to my brothers was accepted. Why would I try to deceive them? My older brother said he easily would have passed the information onto others without checking, which could then be passed onto someone else with their distortions included. The sharing could go on endlessly, with each iteration changing the truth/reality.
Typically, we take someone at their word (and my brother said he would have argued with anyone who said Adam Scott was younger than 51 based on the information I’d texted him). My brother would have backed me up rather than questioning me.
This tiny, microscopic example of a mistake in perception can be held up to demonstrate what is happening all over the world on a MONUMENTAL scale. People make snap judgments to believe something. They don’t research or confirm. There’s no digestion of information, no thinking through things. Just blah, blah, blah. Deny, deny, deny.
We share misinformation. There’s very little fact checking. This affects everyone today on a massive scale. Social media and the tools to populate those sites are largely the culprit. Throw in memes, AI and deep fakes and it is not at all hard to understand why people are confused, upset, angry, unenlightened, readily accept conspiracy theories.
Years ago, I was a reporter covering environmental issues and would spend time at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get face-to-face information from my sources. Occasionally, I would start a believable rumor to see if it circulated the building from one of the programs at the agency to its press office. It was an amusing exercise and one that worked occasionally.
When the rumor made it through EPA’s building, that spoke to our desire to share, to be in the know, to want to get the information first. It was also misinformation and rumor mongering at its finest. Check your sources. Check your facts. Remember not to listen to your brother.
How do rumors start? At the core, it begins with misinformation. It stonewalls from there.
There’s a lot of misinformation around these days. Rumors abound. They spread because people “believe” them without doing research or fact checking.
My case started with Adam Scott, the golfer. I “heard” or thought I heard on the Golf Channel while Scott was playing in a tournament that he was 51 years old and was about to join the Senior Tour. I thought, “No way is he that old. He’s about 44.” That was my instinct.
I hit up Mrs. Google. Adam Scott came up on the screen (on my phone, so the shot was small, looked like him and probably partially led to me not exploring further) and it said he was 51. WHOA! I was way off on his age. Couldn’t believe it.
I texted my two brothers this juicy finding, about Scott being 51 and joining the Senior Tour. The next morning I told my wife about this and she looked up Scott and said, “He’s 44.” I go, “WHAT? It said he was 51 yesterday.”
I go back to Mrs. Google. Look up Adam Scott. Find out it is Adam Scott the actor (who I’ve never heard of) who came up first on the Google search, not Adam Scott the golfer. Turns out the golfer is 44, as I had intuitively thought.
I corrected this on text to my brothers. Which led to a discussion on misinformation and starting rumors.
Disinformation/misinformation is easily shared and accepted. My making the statement to my brothers was accepted. Why would I try to deceive them? My older brother said he easily would have passed the information onto others without checking, which could then be passed onto someone else with their distortions included. The sharing could go on endlessly, with each iteration changing the truth/reality.
Typically, we take someone at their word (and my brother said he would have argued with anyone who said Adam Scott was younger than 51 based on the information I’d texted him). My brother would have backed me up rather than questioning me.
This tiny, microscopic example of a mistake in perception can be held up to demonstrate what is happening all over the world on a MONUMENTAL scale. People make snap judgments to believe something. They don’t research or confirm. There’s no digestion of information, no thinking through things. Just blah, blah, blah. Deny, deny, deny.
We share misinformation. There’s very little fact checking. This affects everyone today on a massive scale. Social media and the tools to populate those sites are largely the culprit. Throw in memes, AI and deep fakes and it is not at all hard to understand why people are confused, upset, angry, unenlightened, readily accept conspiracy theories.
Years ago, I was a reporter covering environmental issues and would spend time at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get face-to-face information from my sources. Occasionally, I would start a believable rumor to see if it circulated the building from one of the programs at the agency to its press office. It was an amusing exercise and one that worked occasionally.
When the rumor made it through EPA’s building, that spoke to our desire to share, to be in the know, to want to get the information first. It was also misinformation and rumor mongering at its finest. Check your sources. Check your facts. Remember not to listen to your brother.
