Stupidity is another kind of virus
One of the latest in a series of twisted and bizarre theories about the coronavirus is that it is some kind of biological weapon that is being employed to destroy Malta.
This isn’t a joke. We’ve seen it among the many stupidities that have appeared on social media ever since the outbreak of this new disease, which is affecting so many and killing a few. Such foolish ideas and thoughts abound even more now that Malta has registered its first cases.
We’ve said it several times: social media is a tool which can help bring people together, restoring old friendships and making new ones, as well as share help people information. But – and this is a big but – it is also a weapon of misinformation and, apart from feeding into the narcissism of people who want to tell the whole world what they ate for lunch, where they went for a walk and what they did last night, it exposes all the stupidity of humankind.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has dominated world news for the past several weeks and Malta is no exception. Most of the panic currently gripping much of the globe has been generated via social media. When, less than 20 years ago, another new virus – Severe Acute Respiratory Virus, known as SARS – developed and spread in a very similar way as the coronavirus is now, there was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media outlets via which news could travel so quickly – and with it so many instances of fake information.
In those days – some would add the adjective ‘blessed’ to describe them – news was obtained mostly from the traditional media which, in the vast majority of cases, adopted a very cautious approach to the disease and avoided being alarmist in the way reports were presented. This time round, however, while traditional media (again, in the great majority of cases) is still restrained in its handling of news related to the virus, social media is offering a wider platform through which some people can spread falsities.
Many do not even bother to check the source of such information and whether it is reliable, simply sharing the ‘news’ items. Whereas 20 years ago these people’s stupidity was confined to a bar, club or the dinner table, among friends and relatives, today it enjoys a much wider audience, with some gullible enough to believe anything thrown at them, which they then spread even further among their own group of friends.
The traditional media has the added burden of having to sift through the inundation of information, much of it fake, before presenting reliable information to its viewers, listeners or readers.
The situation is extraordinary. Now that Malta has registered its first cases and neighbouring Italy is in complete lockdown – with the government finally waking up to the idea of suspending passenger travel to and from all of Italy – we are all feeling it more.
The best thing we can do in this situation is to follow instructions given by the health authorities, stay safe and stop adding to the panic via fake information.