In this era of information explosion, one may expect that people have the resources and capabilities to decipher the information and separate the facts from the fiction. Tragically, this is not what's happening. Spread of false information and propaganda is at its peak. The Internet has provided a platform to spread the good, the bad, the ugly, the dangerous, and all other types of information. People are carving out only what suits their ideology and argument. They selectively and intelligently use that carved-out information and data to validate their preconceived notions. People don't bother to verify whether the information or data they are using is reliable and verifiable, if it suits their arguments, they assume that the information is true, if it doesn't suit they discard the information as unreliable. In both cases, there is no verification for the information used or rejected. So, there is my truth and there is your truth, but there is no our truth. Our respective truths depend on which religion we follow, which gender we belong to, which country we live in, which age group we belong to, which political party or leader we support, and various other subjective parameters. As the parameters used are so subjective, the truth is also becoming subjective, and this is the biggest tragedy of this era, even after having access to so much information we are crippled with unreliable and subjective propaganda, we are so trapped in our siloes that we don't even care that we are being manipulated and brainwashed.
Also, this information tsunami is not uniting people, it's not making people more knowledgeable and flexible, but it is making people more rigid and siloed. It is making people more polarized and convinced only about their own views, and it is making people more hostile to any alternate views and ideas. People are more interested in validating the ideas of their tribe than interested in knowing the truth. They seek data and information, but only if it validates their own beliefs, the rest is either termed inaccurate or propaganda. This is where we stand today. I don't think anyone expected that we would be heading in this direction when this all started, but that is where we stand today, and unless we all appreciate our own tendencies to fall for misinformation directed at us, we will be heading to a more siloed and polarized world. People are so scared of being wrong that they aggressively reject everything that could even remotely question their ideology and beliefs. This type of behavior used to be seen only in cults, but it seems now everyone is behaving as if they are part of some cult. This cult could be their political party or leader, their ideology, or whatever group they want to be associated with. It seems people have lost their ability to offer and receive constructive criticism. The only way to deal with this hostile environment is to be patient. Listen to others, as there are more speakers than listeners, everyone has something to say but there are very few who are willing to listen. Let this outrage pass, let people vent their feelings and then let's hope that these people are willing to listen. If we cannot do this, then we will be in perpetual shouting mode, where everyone is broadcasting, but no one is listening, there will be a lot of noise but no sanity. There is my truth and there is your truth, we need to look for our truth, and we can find that only if we look together.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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