Truth Is Boring
The inventor of fake news must have thought up the idea after visiting his grandma in her small village. There, I'm sure he must have heard some juicy tidbit about a neighbor that everyone assured him was true. Only it wasn't. But it could have been possible. Light bulb goes on. How to manipulate world opinion, Chapter One, is written.
This past week, I ordered a tractor load of wood. Normally, my husband goes out and brings in fallen trees; last year his mother told him to cut trees on her property. The resulting firewood, an enormous pile, was for both houses. But last year was last year. He also had more time, being unemployed in the late winter and spring, and the weather was drier. This year, he still hadn't been able to go scope the surrounding woods. Hence, the order.
The tractor brought some trunks that are as wide as a table for ten. When my husband saw those he threw his hand to his forehead trying to think of how he can possibly chop them up into firewood. They are in plain view for anyone driving by to see. And people have seen them. So, when my husband went to the village to his parents' house one day shortly after the wood's arrival, his mother told him someone is accusing him of cutting them on a property in the village. Apparently, some of the trunks look suspiciously like some of the trees on that patch of woods.
And so a rumor is born. It is a fact that my husband gathers firewood. It is a fact that there are large eucalyptus missing from a property. It is a fact that large trunks of eucalyptus appeared in front of our house afterwards. Therefore, it was probably my husband who cut them.
The truth, though, is that my husband only cuts on others' properties after the owners tell him he can do so. But it is that easy to believe a lie that merely started as an assumption. Many other lies have circulated that have later been shown to be false. But the story still remains, and the doubts of whether or not it might have been true still niggle.
Of course, some stories are still true, such as that we had a usurer in our village, and some misers. We've also had a thief or two. But half the stories that circulated were merely assumptions, connections made that lacked substance.
So, to a person living in a village, fake news is old news. Most of us have learned not to settle for the first rumor we hear. So, why do we settle for the first "wow" news that we hear about a public personage? Because, since we know truth is stranger than fiction, something "wow" is probably true? Not always. Truth is still terribly boring most of the time.
This past week, I ordered a tractor load of wood. Normally, my husband goes out and brings in fallen trees; last year his mother told him to cut trees on her property. The resulting firewood, an enormous pile, was for both houses. But last year was last year. He also had more time, being unemployed in the late winter and spring, and the weather was drier. This year, he still hadn't been able to go scope the surrounding woods. Hence, the order.
The tractor brought some trunks that are as wide as a table for ten. When my husband saw those he threw his hand to his forehead trying to think of how he can possibly chop them up into firewood. They are in plain view for anyone driving by to see. And people have seen them. So, when my husband went to the village to his parents' house one day shortly after the wood's arrival, his mother told him someone is accusing him of cutting them on a property in the village. Apparently, some of the trunks look suspiciously like some of the trees on that patch of woods.
And so a rumor is born. It is a fact that my husband gathers firewood. It is a fact that there are large eucalyptus missing from a property. It is a fact that large trunks of eucalyptus appeared in front of our house afterwards. Therefore, it was probably my husband who cut them.
The truth, though, is that my husband only cuts on others' properties after the owners tell him he can do so. But it is that easy to believe a lie that merely started as an assumption. Many other lies have circulated that have later been shown to be false. But the story still remains, and the doubts of whether or not it might have been true still niggle.
Of course, some stories are still true, such as that we had a usurer in our village, and some misers. We've also had a thief or two. But half the stories that circulated were merely assumptions, connections made that lacked substance.
So, to a person living in a village, fake news is old news. Most of us have learned not to settle for the first rumor we hear. So, why do we settle for the first "wow" news that we hear about a public personage? Because, since we know truth is stranger than fiction, something "wow" is probably true? Not always. Truth is still terribly boring most of the time.
Maybe people are the problem.
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