Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world…
Fake news is a relatively new term. It means false or misleading information presented as news. Unfortunately, most of us tend to believe anything we see in print or hear from a news reporter. At one time, journalists and newscasters had a code of ethics that’s sorely lacking today. Walter Cronkite is long gone, and a plethora of fame seekers spewing anything to grab media attention whether true or false have taken his place.
Spreading false information is really not a new concept. A lot of what we’ve learned through the years has proven not to be factual. I found Herb Reich’s book Don’t You Believe It!: Exposing the Myths Behind 250 Commonly Believed Fallacies both exhilarating and depressing. It is a dilemma because as much as I love boring people with obscure information, I like for my facts to be accurate.
I liked believing that…
- P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
- Doubleday invented baseball.
- Cleopatra was Egyptian.
- Charles Lindberg was the first man to fly across the Atlantic.
- Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag.
- Edison invented the light bulb.
I even liked believing George Washington said, “I cannot tell a lie,” when he admitted chopping down a cherry tree—and to make matters worse, he didn’t even wear wooden false teeth.
How does so much misinformation get circulated? As much as I would like to blame the Internet, these misconceptions took root long before modern technology. Blame old wives’ tales, myths, legends, hucksters, or a skewed view of a historic event.
Unlike most of today’s reporters, historians didn’t intend to deceive. They relied on good stories they heard and then passed them along. We tend to do the same thing. Unfortunately, if we repeat a deception long enough, we think it’s the truth. Before long—presto—it’s taught in schools, cited in newspapers, and passed down for years to come. I pity future generations who try to make sense of the fake news surrounding us today. We can’t even understand it.
However, there are some written words we can totally believe. They are found in the Bible. If we aren’t filling our minds with God’s words a lot more than we are listening to or reading fake news, we are in serious trouble.
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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
