NEWS ARTICLE: “[Facebook] is being accused of abdicating its responsibility to clamp down on fake news stories and counter the echo chamber that defined this election.” –from “Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?”, an article published in The Guardian, 10 November 2016. [source]
SCRIPTURE: “In or about the year A.D. 421, Moroni, the last of the Nephite prophet-historians, sealed the sacred record and hid it up unto the Lord, to be brought forth in the latter days, as predicted by the voice of God through His ancient prophets. In A.D. 1823, this same Moroni, then a resurrected personage, visited the Prophet Joseph Smith and subsequently delivered the engraved plates to him.” –from A Brief Explanation about The Book of Mormon. [source]
COMMENTARY: Apparently, people share things with their friends based on emotional impact rather than truthfulness. And once a fake news item is shared, studies have found that most people won’t stop believing a story they’ve emotionally identified with even when given information that disproves it. I suppose that’s just human nature at work, but it makes me a little sad that some people try to exploit that tendency. I’d think one of the first things we’d want to teach people is how not to be taken in by an easily disprovable lie. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
