Yuh Sure ’bout dem news deh ?
“A Lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” – Charles Spurgeon
THE ABOVE quote, or at least a different wording of it, has been attributed to famed author Mark Twain for years. But, in kinda proving the point of the quote, the truth is actually that it was by the above-mentioned individual. Or so some scholars think.
That’s the problem with ‘facts’; so many of them are incorrect, it’s hard to tell who’s got their information right and who’s talking a bunch of toilet.
Note, I’m not saying that every time someone spews incorrect facts it’s because they’re lying. Far from it. Most times, it’s a genuine mistake.
But one thing that has not helped the disemmination of inaccurate info is this monster we call social media.
Now let’s be clear, social media can be an outstanding tool. But as I’ve written before, it is also one of the worst inventions known to mankind.
Last week, as news of the coronavirus started spreading (no pun intended), pretty soon there was news that Jamaica had a case of it at The University Hospital of the West Indies. Dr Christopher Tufton, I’m pretty certain, by now is sick and tired (also no pun intended) of having to address every hint of an infection or outbreak.
As it turns out, the goodly doc (well, ‘book’ doctor anyway) had to clear up that there was no suspected case of the latest disease that some people think is going to wipe out half of the planet.
The issue is that so many believed the ‘news’, that panic was just about starting to spread.
One good friend even told me that persons were seen wearing masks.
They may have been about to do some weed whacking or laying of white marl but they were masked up.
The point to this whole thing is that when people are sharing stuff on social media they post them as if they are facts.
And whole heap of other people just need fi see something from one smaddy and den dem start get nervous. Where I was hanging out at the time the ‘news’ broke, someone coughed.
Mi say people nearly run di man like he was a leper. I’ll be honest. For a second or two, mi nose did start feel funny. But I have chronic sinusitis.
By the evening news, people’s minds were a little more at ease. Although you will always have the conspiracy theorists. If these folks spent as much time ‘looking a work’ rather thinking up whether the Government is conning them, maybe they would be earning a paycheque (and yes, I’m assuming the biggest conspiracy persons don’t work, sue me).
That’s what makes the journalism profession so darn difficult these days. People believe pretty much everybody except the media houses.
And what always annoys me is when people from abroad ask me ‘so how mi nuh hear dat’? Irks me beyond belief.
The only advice I’ll give is be careful who you get your news from. A nuh everybody know what dem talking ’bout.