One of this month’s biggest news stories was the bombing of a hospital in Gaza, which killed 500 Palestinians. It led to international outcry and accusations that Israel was targeting the innocent and injured.
The next day, a counter-narrative spread – one supported by U.S. intelligence and President Joe Biden. Israel hadn’t bombed the hospital. A Hamas missile had instead gone awry. And a video was released allegedly supporting that narrative.
Social media misinformation and suppression, media misreporting, and AI make it hard to know the truth about what we see in the news and on social media. And that is on a normal day. Wartime propaganda intensifies that challenge, especially with media outlets engaging in what former CNN reporter Brian Stelter condemned in response to hospital-related reporting as “a rush to report whatever is new.”
Average people can hardly be blamed for getting the facts wrong. But we still have a responsibility not to spread falsehoods. There are three steps to accomplish this in our complicated world.
First, be patient and wait at least two days before rushing to judgment. The facts often come out on their own, as seems to be happening with the Gaza hospital story. Even some of Israel’s biggest critics in Congress are backtracking on their claims that the country was responsible. On the other side of war claims is the viral story that Hamas butchered 40 babies, though Israeli spokespersons could not confirm the story for CNN or The Intercept, and key details have changed over time.
Domestically, viral stories have often been proved false within two days of their portrayal. Remember the homeless veterans kicked out of a hotel in favor of immigrants? Didn’t happen. And Nick Sandmann, the teenager who was allegedly a racist confronting a Native American, was shown within days to be the victim in that altercation.
Second, if you care deeply about the subject matter and want the truth faster, seek original sources. A video circulated on social media that portrayed a CNN producer telling a videographer and a reporter to fake like they were dodging Hamas rockets. A quick Google search turned up a Reuters fact-check, which linked to the source of the voice-over video – a website that openly acknowledged adding the voice-over.
Suppose you are struggling to settle your mind amid the many emotion-invoking viral stories bombarding us every day. In that case, Just Facts Academy is an excellent resource for a repeatable process to quickly and efficiently find original sources.
Third, if you are unsure what the facts are, admit your ignorance. In an era when people claim to know everything (but don’t), “I don’t know” is an excellent, reputable answer. Nobody expects a mechanic to be an expert on national defense or a philosopher to install a roof, but people somehow become experts on science (COVID), foreign affairs (Israel vs. Hamas and Russia vs. Ukraine), and policing the moment something pops across their screen.
You might get criticized for admitting ignorance, especially when all your neighbors seem to be throwing flags onto their social media profiles. But it is a great way to stay mentally healthy – instead of being overwhelmed, you will stick to what you know and where you can make an impact. And as best-selling life-improvement author and podcaster Tim Ferris described it in “The 4-Hour Workweek,” it is also a great way to accelerate success in other areas of your life.
“Ignorance is bliss” is a cliché for a reason: it’s true. And it’s not bad, either. After all, billions of things have happened in the three minutes it took you to read this article, and you can’t possibly know about (or care about!) all of them. So, choose what is important to you – and that can certainly be the conflict in the Middle East. But don’t let yourself feel ashamed or out of the loop if your passion lies somewhere else.