Orwell
in 1984 gives us a caution, for entering in a world of “Reality control… The
chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth”. Our
Orwellian behaviors in the age of miscommunication and disinformation rendered
us in the doldrums of knowing all with little or no knowledge. The sole
authenticity of the information or news is shared by someone in our
acquaintance or familiar to us. We are making little effort, “share” or, “like”
a piece of information without any investigation, and propelling the stuff
further. Some individuals, groups, or even organizations deliberately
disseminate misleading facts just to play around for building beliefs, getting
political gains, engaging the public emotionally, earning monetary benefits,
and sometimes only for gaining digital traffic. Social stability, strength, and
stamina are at stake and at risk in the hands of this fake phony crisis.
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One
of the biggest challenges of the 21st century is the collapse and crash of
trusted. Sharing a lie makes you a liar. In the age of citizen journalism,
blogging some vile content is created in a run of ratings. Truth is not told
but it is networked accordingly as per requirement. You can easily find facts
and their counter facts online which is more confusing for the common man. The
proliferation of false stuff Goebbels’ words: “If you tell a lie big enough and
keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.
Another
reason for bubble information is the mushroom growth of communication channels
and the anonymity of sources. Now internet access or having internet-bound
android phones is gradually becoming a commonplace thing. The outburst of social or digital media along
with the already available traditional one added fuel to fire and the
repercussion of this falsehood is far-reaching. Through inbound information,
one not only can easily mislead peoples’ believes but can misguide them more
smartly and smoothly.
In
the wake of the pandemic hit, while the community is facing the chaotic
situation of the crisis, the fake and doctored information through digital
strategies/ techniques and platforms has sabotaged the proper course of the
fight against coronavirus and further inoculating Covid-19's vaccine.
Ultimately the pandemic due to 'infodemic' turns into a panic and created an
acute vacillation for vaccination. It only increased the catastrophic situation
and anxiety among people. The head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom, declared: “We’re not
just battling the virus, we’re also battling the trolls and conspiracy
theorists that push misinformation and undermine the outbreak response”.
Another
type of misinformation is edited or misleading images. In the battle of
reaching to the facts whether they are true or false, people are indulging in
more and more controversies. The treated and tempered images created through Photoshop
are not only devastating but also difficult to cope with. Images are moments
and now people can easily use a camera to take a click the way they want it to
show. Photo lie or image lie penetrated and made its place so sneakingly in our
society that originality faded away a long ago.
We
already have become a society that relies on our brains instead of ears or eyes while reading or listening. We only want to read or see or listen according
to our wishes. And now the worse is that we started propagating the same to
become or at least believed to be more knowledgeable, informed, and sagacious.
We are prone to misinformation because of our inclination towards shortcuts. We
seldom allow our minds to work hard and dig out the factual stuff to believe
in. Thinking efficiently and doing any research before forwarding the wordings is an obsolete effort, hence distorting facts. Our laziness has created a world
of obliviousness for us to believe.
Misleading
information is not something that required a plumbed fix treatment, a constant
check is indispensable from all stakeholders. Rectifying the technological
grounds is a need of time but more crucial is to work on modifying and
improving human behaviors. We should consume information rationally and develop
our analytical machinery to filter the fake-outs.
Few
more tips to easily survive the falsehood in the era of infodemic;
Low
before you leap
Think
before you speak and think hard.
This article is written by Farrukh Anjum, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
