Defeating fake news and misinformation campaigns is not about calling out some nameless faceless “them” behind it all. The name and face is yours. Fixing this mess starts with knowing yourself and questioning your own motives, actions, and inactions. It’s asking yourself:
- why do I only read the headlines?
- what will I gain by sharing the unverified?
- why do I believe a leader’s words but don’t examine their actions?
If the real answers are that you only read headlines because you’re lazy or illiterate, you can fix that.
If you share because you have a desperate need to be seen as smart, witty, or tough by people you don’t even know, you can fix that.
If you haven’t the time to research an elected official’s voting patterns and funding sources, you can fix that too.
Each takes a bit of time, it takes some work and sacrifice, but a healthy society requires us all to do a little bit more than serve our own self-interest.