THE SOCIAL DILEMMA. 2 Corinthians 13:1.

Just when television was about to replace the newspaper, the computer came along and replaced them both. Before the phrase “broadcast news” could dethrone “the press,” “the media” made both terms obsolete.

In the beginning, everyone was excited: the internet would be a “democratizing force,” because EVERYONE could have a microphone and get their message out. You don’t need a printing press. Just start a blog. Or tweet. Or put videos on Tik Tok. Or use Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, WordPress, Reddit, Pinterest, and more.

So what’s the problem? Why the title above, referencing the dark documentary? The problem is VERITAS—from which we get the word verify. “Veritas” means “TRUTH.” How can you verify the truth coming from individuals all over the world? Newspapers may be dinosaurs, but papers have built-in safeguards to ensure the truth of their content: 1) reporters use multiple sources, 2) editors review reporters’ work—and both will be fired for repeated mistakes, 3) competing newspapers will DESTROY a paper that gets facts wrong, 4) papers print corrections often—sometimes daily, and 5) readers stop reading unreliable papers. In short, the newspaper business is cutthroat, and papers that publish mistakes (or lies) will not survive.

By contrast, self-proclaimed experts on the internet do not have ANY safeguards to ensure accuracy. Worse, they are motivated not by truth, but by likes, friend requests, and advertising revenue.

The fact that lies are shared seven times more often than true stories means there is a powerful motive to post “fake news.”

So how do we find the truth in today’s SEA OF MISINFORMATION? The Bible provides a helpful principle:

“Every fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 2 Corinthians 13:1. (This principle is repeated at least EIGHT times: Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; Hebrews 10:28; and 1 Timothy 5:19.)

Don’t trust anyone on the internet that operates alone. Don’t believe any story that does not contain multiple sources. Most importantly: study the word and pray for GOD’S WISDOM and discernment.

ΑΩ
Jesus said the end times would be characterized not only by “wars and rumors of wars,” by earthquakes and famines and the beginning of the birth pangs, but by DECEPTION. “Take heed that no one misleads you” Matthew 24:4. I have never seen such a chorus of misleading voices. Between anti-intellectualism, social media, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Fakes, incompetent Influencers, the predatory wellness movement, biased reporting masquerading as journalism, the ignorance of expertise, plagiarism and other factors decimating scholarship and the peer-review process, the rise of false religions, cults, and new age spirituality, I am more inclined to call ours the end times than ever before.