Over 15 years ago, a friend of mine was speaking with his mother about a controversial item in the news, disputing her understanding of the situation. She, for her part, was ready for the battle, citing a news source that confirmed her views. When he questioned the reliability of her source, she replied, “I know it’s true. I read it online.”
As laughable (and unfortunate) as those sentiments were back then, they are all the more laughable today. Yet millions, if not billions, of people regularly regurgitate the latest video they have seen online or the latest article they have read, as if the fact that it has been posted online somehow makes it true.
Have we not learned our lesson by now?