Fake News Alert: All Sporting Events Cancelled!
I am certain that the phrase of the year is fake news.
It all started during those tumultuous weeks preceding the US elections last year when people started to reference those social media posts and websites that look like news but really aren’t. Then when the US president used the term to shout down a CNN reporter during a press conference in February, fakes news developed a life of its own. In fact when I checked with Google Trends the chart of usage of the term fake news looked like this:
This looks like my sex life chart in reverse
But why do people believe so-called fake news? Well it’s all down to the subject matter, medium and delivery.
The brain is lazy and takes short cuts in order to process information efficiently. So if a story has content that you can’t personally verify and is delivered via a medium you trust and seems official, you are more likely to believe it because it’s easier for the brain to do so. Furthermore, if the content supports your personal position on the subject the brain considers that a slam dunk and the story becomes the truth to you.
Now I have no idea if the previous paragraph that I just slapped together is true or not but it seems legit, right? I am sure you accepted it as a valid theory simply because you’re in the trustworthy land of Kbecistan, it was written as if it was factual and you can’t personally verify the information.
But that paragraph represents an official theory here in Kbecistan. It seems reasonable enough to me and I have certainly exploited it in the past.
For instance, a few years ago three friends and I were having an after work drink at what was then called Lord Willoughby’s Tavern.
Too many of my stories begin with me having drinks at a bar.
Anyway I don’t remember how it came up but I mentioned that people tend to believe me because I seem trustworthy and I speak in a serious way. I further suggested that even if what I was saying was ridiculous I could make it believable. The two ladies present scoffed at me so I accepted that as a challenge, unbeknownst to them.
I ordered a round of drinks and in the time it took for them to arrive I formulated my plan. I looked at one of the TV screens showing cable news and as if I was commenting on something on screen, I said the following:
“You all heard about Saturday, right? It’s the day that because of the relative positions of the earth, moon and sun, the effect of gravity on earth is at it’s lowest. It only happens every seventeen years.”
They looked at me enthralled by this fascinating information. The bartender chimed in that he thought he saw something about it on CNN.
With a straight face I added, “Yeah it’s been all over the news. In fact we don’t have many sporting events on the days when this phenomenon occurs because all types of records would be broken.”
One of the ladies, eyes wide in astonishment and wonder, said, “Wow, really?”
I replied, “Well no, but you believed me didn’t you?”
After all the cursing and slapping that ensued was over, they accepted that I was the king, or something like that. The bartender looked kinda sheepish though.
Yesterday when I mentioned to one of the ladies that was present that I was going to discuss that incident, she made me promise to keep her name out of my blog. I looked her straight in the eyes and said with a serious expression, “Of course Carol-Ann, I would never do that.” And she believed me.
