Beware of Fake News
One thing that has caught my attention lately, regarding the information boom that we have today, is the fact that at the same time we are bombarded by disinformation at the same time, and we must be very careful with that.
Misinformation is a scourge
Fake news is a real problem, because misinformation is a real scourge. Through disinformation, governments, people and companies can be unjustifiably destabilized, since even if it is false, any rumor helps to form opinion matrices that have absolutely nothing to do with reality, but harm the affected parties.
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Now, we often see on the Internet pseudo-news from media outlets that appear to be serious, with absurd headlines such as that an actor or singer or painter, who died some time ago, is really alive... This is a reliable example of misinformation or fake news. Who are behind this type of headlines and why do they do it? Unscrupulous people who only seek to take advantage of the fame of people who are no longer on this plane in order to benefit from it. Because, precisely, the objective with which they generally do it is to profit through the money they earn when curious people enter their sites and, in addition to the fake news, also see the ads.
But even worse, if possible, is when through fake news, they try to harm companies and serious economic projects, based on accusations that have no real basis. It happens a lot with cryptocurrencies; In fact, today an Uncle of mine sent me, via Whatsapp message, an article that said that Bitcoin was going to go to hell because according to a Nobel Prize winner (I don't know which one); said that Bitcoin was going to succumb soon; and that the drop to $16k was the beginning of the end.
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Now, it is true that the current price level of Bitcoin is inconvenient (a real kick in the ass), but that does not mean that Bitcoin is already finished, because to think that; would be to ignore the fact of everything that Bitcoin represents and the technology that it has behind it supporting it.
In some cases, not everything is fake new, because it is also true that legendary investors, such as billionaire Warren Buffett, have repeatedly accused Bitcoin of being a scam; but even if they have, and despite the merit that such a personalities have, we must carefully examine the opinions, and the animosity that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can unleash in old-school investors; who do not understand the magic or the meaning of a technology and a means of payment and investment that they cannot physically see or touch and cannot really understand, because it is unlike anything that has ever existed before.
It is logical that they cannot see the inherent potential behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, because it is something that surpasses their understanding of the world of investments. They cannot understand no matter how hard they try, that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are the present and the economic future of the World.
Now, for an investor like Warren Buffett to say that Bitcoin is a scam, it is respectable, from the point of view of his career as an investor, but we do not have to give him total credit, because it is only his opinion on something that he clearly does not fully understand. Therefore, although Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are risky investments (especially from the point of view of the great volatility they have), it does not mean that they are scams, nor that they will succumb.
What is the solution to misinformation?
The solution for misinformation (or fake news) is discerning the information, contrasting it with logic and with the news from serious media and discerning the level of seriousness and the prevailing ideology behind the media that write what we are reading.
If we read that a character said such and such about a company, commodity, action, currency, cryptocurrency, etc; we must contrast the information with sources that we know to be reliable, and not take them for granted as soon as we read them.
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In addition, we must analyze the trajectory of the character who is expressing his opinion, and understand what is the reason for his sympathy or animosity towards the company, project or issue about which they are expressing themselves, beyond everything he thinks.
For example, it can happen that we read a news item about a person expressing very bad opinions about a certain company; but when we dig a little into the history of said person, we realize that it worked for said company, and she was badly fired. So, that doesn't necessarily discredit what it says, nor does it necessarily make what it says untrue, but they are factors to consider along the way.
So in short, the solution to combat misinformation is not to be naive and stop believing everything we read, because just as the Internet allows us to be aware of any information, also, if we are not careful, we can be undermined by misinformation regarding to many things. And it is there where lies the enormous importance of discernment to know how to be well informed despite of all.
Also, as I already said, we must learn to differentiate that much information, even if it is not really fake news, is only the opinions of people who may or may not be authorities on the matter in question; so as the old saying goes "Give Caesar what It's Caesar's." Opinions are one thing, fake news is another thing, and reliable facts are another very different thing; and you have to be very clear about it.
What do you think about this whole topic?
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