In my other life on Facebook, I’m always on the watch for fake news – it’s become endemic to today’s online world. And I’m not talking about the good satire from The Onion that has the intention of giving you a good laugh while making commentary — there are a lot of sites that purposely make something just outrageous enough to get people to believe it and share it, in order to generate clicks and ad revenue.
Years ago, I temporarily helped spread a particularly embarrassing bit of false information, and vowed never to let it happen again.
I now regularly check on anything that seems too good to be true, and am particularly wary of anything of major importance that directly appeals to my interests. If I don’t know the site (and I already know not to believe anything on the Daily Current, or any apparent news source with .co added — like NBC.com.co), I’ll take a phrase from the story and put it in google to see what I can find.
Here’s a good article related to the recent fake news story about NIDA paying people $3,000 a week to smoke pot:
No, The Feds Won’t Pay You $3,000 Per Week to Smoke Marijuana
It’s very important for us as activists to be reliable and trustworthy sources of information.
Wait, that story was bogus?! … Well, I guess I better call my boss and beg for my job back.
That has popped up dozens of times on my facebook feed, and I really was amazed at how much sticking power it had. I am likewise peeved at all the fake/clickbait news sites. It seems at times there are more of them than there are credible alternative sites. This one really didn’t pass the sniff test though, so it seems incredible people were falling for it, and all over the place, too. Heck, for 3 large a week, I’d actually consider quitting, but nobody’s gonna pay me for that, either.
This is a pretty good and reliable PARTIAL list of fake, satire and clickbait sites. Please refer to it often, to keep Pete from climbing the walls: http://www.fakenewswatch.com/
Thanks,dc, shared that link to my FB page for my friends.
When the news gets better perhaps people won’t have to post fake news to make life bearable.
Speaking of fake news…
Jimmy Carter: “Medical Marijuana Cured My Cancer†at SatiraTribune
☺ What Made Jimmy Carter Flip-Flop on Marijuana?
After all, Willie Nelson’s toking on the roof and Carter was the one who had the white rabbit chasing him… well, it wasn’t exactly white, and it was swimming after him… Tellemahookah!
Muddy Waters make it hard to see
The truth right in front of me
My plant is righteous, it’s a kiss of death
To Cancer Cells that taint my breath.
Fake news gives me the blues
But it’s a riot.
Cannabis-induced apoptosis
is the diet.
My poetry is bad but don’t delay
do an image search (on cannabis-induced apoptosis)
and you’ll be on your way
Working through our ECS
there’s Ceramide and other steps
At a certain point the attack has been made
and now the cell’s mitochrondria are digging their graves.
Don’t feel sad for those cellular friends
they were working for the cancer and it’s
good they’re at end.
Cancer cells have lost the “to die” message that is known as “programmed cell death” or apoptosis. This is NOT fake news. Cannabis and other cannabinoids can kill cancer cells.