Fake

Just to navigate our way through this troubled world as believers in Christ demands Godly wisdom, which is made available to us, according to James chapter 1:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Double-mindedness comes when the wisdom of God, the bedrock principles we find in His Word, the direction of His Spirit, is in conflict with our own human wisdom, which is futile.  We have no excuses to rely on our own devices, when God has called us to avail ourselves of His wisdom.  We are not called to walk on impulse or instinct, but to develop discernment and an ability to think Biblically about the issues with which we're confronted.

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In Philippians 4, we see a verse that can be instructive in the area of guarding and controlling our
thoughts:
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

I routinely dismiss information that I see comes from the website BuzzFeed, but when a conservative commentator like Erick Erickson over at The Resurgent calls attention, to it - well, I will give some credence to it.

The topic is: fake news.  Erick writes:

Of course, the truth is that fake news is a problem. I have more than once tweeted out a fake news story only to have to apologize. Over the past year I have written several pieces critical of rightwing news sites that peddle lies for traffic. Other sites push out misinformation or they take truthful stories and magnify untrue motives to explain the story.

So, on to the BuzzFeed report, which says:

The review of more than 1,000 posts from six large hyperpartisan Facebook pages selected from the right and from the left also found that the least accurate pages generated some of the highest numbers of shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook — far more than the three large mainstream political news pages analyzed for comparison.

Our analysis of three hyperpartisan right-wing Facebook pages found that 38% of all posts were either a mixture of true and false or mostly false, compared to 19% of posts from three hyperpartisan left-wing pages that were either a mixture of true and false or mostly false.

Erickson contends, "The only reason it has been higher on the right has been because Barack Obama was in the White House."  BuzzFeed states that:

The rapid growth of these pages combines with BuzzFeed News’ findings to suggest a troubling conclusion: The best way to attract and grow an audience for political content on the world’s biggest social network is to eschew factual reporting and instead play to partisan biases using false or misleading information that simply tells people what they want to hear.

Now, I would point out that while these so-called "mainstream" political news pages may not deal in "fake news," the choice of what they choose to report or not report and how it is processed and presented could illustrate a bias in a particular direction.

But, it does appear that Facebook is the main offender in the trafficking of fake news - it's not entirely the social media giant's fault - these sites post content on Facebook, then consumers share it with others.  And, consider, according to Pew Research Center, that "Roughly two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults use the site, and half of those users get news there — amounting to 30% of the general population."

Not only do you have sites that peddle extreme information to their bases, but you have people who are posing as sources of a different ideological viewpoint to attempt to discredit them.  A few months ago, Rachel Alexander at The Stream, identified some of the worst offenders in dealing with fake news.  In these cases, you have people who pose as conservatives to tweak them.  For instance, she writes:

The publisher of the fake news site National Report, “Allen Montgomery” (a pseudonym), brazenly admitted to Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune, “We have been targeting Tea Party types recently as they are the most gullible and are willing to spread misinformation across the internet with little/no research.” Conservative Headlines, which has compiled a list of sites that “troll conservatives,” observed, “The site NationalReport.net seems to be actively trying to embarrass conservatives on social media.”

Another site Alexander points out is Christwire, which is apparently no longer up.  She says:

It features fake articles that put conservative Christians in an unflattering light, which is also reflected in its fire-and-brimstone mission statement. Splitsider describes it as “a played-extremely-straight satire of the religious far right,” which is “designed to be sexist, racist and homophobic.”

This site is not to be confused with Faithwire, which is a nice new site that is affiliated with CBN.

So, what are some takeaways for us?

Well, for one thing, we should be diligent pursuers of the truth.  The Bible instructs us about what we should fix our minds on, and we can have a built-in filter by which we discern what is true and what is not.

And, that concept extends to our engagement with social media.  On Facebook, especially, we have to be so careful to process what comes across our news feed, because there may be inaccuracy.  We can also be challenged to think and verify before you post or share.

It may also be helpful to develop a working list of news sources, including websites, that you trust. Of course, there is the myth-busting site, Snopes.  Rachel Alexander refers to FakeNewsWatch.com.

We also have to be discerning about bias that may appear in mainstream media.  The point of view of many journalists will not line up with our own worldview, so there may be stories important to us that are either not covered or packaged in a way that shows a bias.

Finally, make sure your consumption of content lines up with the best news source of all, the source of truth, the Bible.  The living and active Word of God is a necessary aid to develop discernment.