First of all, sorry for this annoying YouTuber. My brother
showed me this and this blog assignment made me thing of these videos. The
previous videos are of this guy explaining how easy it is to turn completely
fake facts into slightly more believable memes that can be shared online. He
seems to make videos where he asks people to send him fake facts that they made up and he adds some of his own or changes
them a bit. Then he turns them into memes.
I think the concept of these videos is kind of funny and he
is definitely making fun of people who automatically believe something to be
true just by reading it online even if common sense (let alone the credibility
of the source, lack of supporting evidence, etc.) would suggest that something
is clearly false. So yes, this video is funny and something I’m not surprised
my brother managed to find entertaining enough to show me. However, these videos
also bring attention to how easy it is to create memes or any type of false
information that can be shared online.
In these videos, he mentions how sharing a meme he created
would cause a certain family member or type of person to comment in agreement
or anger and have some strong opinion about it. This is often very true and I
would say also includes the people that share the post with the false
information if they aren’t intentionally doing it to fool people. I, however,
wouldn’t say that most people’s motives are to fool the public by spreading
false information because it’s fun.
Another interesting aspect of these videos that is important
to mention is that he is analyzing how to make these fake facts more believable
and changes suggestions slightly with the hopes that it sounds a little more believable.
Now, I don’t think this is a tactic used by all actors who often share false
information in the media. It is almost funny to think of Trump sitting in his
office spending time pondering how he can make something he knows is false more
believable. I think some people and organizations are so powerful or just don’t
care whether something they spread is true. It doesn’t always matter how
clearly false something is because either certain viewers just don’t care or
there’s nothing there forces them to only share true information.
I don’t think that this guy bringing attention to
how easy it is to spread false information is useful. It might seem like these videos aren't very damaging because no one would believe these memes and his videos aren't even entertaining. However, if his target audience was teenagers, this could have potential to be more of a problem. In a way, this guy is just
trying to build popularity by encouraging young people to be a part of the
problem. But hey, as long as it’s funny to someone... right?
Hello,
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea that there were videos out there that essentially teach people how to make fake news. It is scary how easy it can be to spread fake news, and it is even more scary that people actually believe it. I understand that to a certain degree, it can be funny and comical to joke around, but sometimes fake news can do more harm than good. I really liked when you said "I think some people and organizations are so powerful or just don’t care whether something they spread is true." When it is just a single person trying to spread fake news, it isn't that big a deal. When it is news stations or celebrities, it becomes a big deal. People start to listen and aren't questioning it. That can be very dangerous and can get violent and alienate people fast.
Scary to me, was that as I watched (KNOWING they're fake), they looked good enough to me. 85% of gifts ARE returned. Gods, that was easy....
ReplyDelete