Thursday, November 13, 2014

No, Disney is NOT Making a Cartoon with Gay Leads

Folks, we really need to talk about fake news.

Everyday, another person on my facebook stream posts a story that turns out to be fake news.

And yes, I've got caught, too.

Here's the deal.

The point of fake news is to troll people. It's meant to be outrageous or sound too good to be true.

So before you hit that "share" link, look at the source.

Does it come from sources with no track record of fake news?

If you've never heard of that site, double-check the source.

Because if it's pissing you off, or it sounds really good or outrageous, it's having the desired effect. The authors and their audience/allies get their jollies by psyching people out with clickbait-y headlines.

Satire got old. Everyone knows about The Onion. Now it's a host of no-name "news" sites that put this stuff out under the guise of news.

Be on your guard.