My take on fake news and the threat it poses to humanity and the environment

It seems to me that fake or manipulated news is a symptom of an erosion of trust and confidence in democracy. There was an earned trust in the “real news” print media in its heyday because they could afford to hire people to fact check and ensure sources were credible and secure. Now they need fake news checkers but of course they can’t afford that either in their current weakened state!

Everything has changed in the digital age and the old business model of conventional print news is under attack by the digital revolution. After all, who reads newspapers and questions anything anymore?  

Digital news is dominated by an ever smaller number of incestuous media giants who are either divided and conquered or bought off by lobbyists trying to serve their political masters. The so-called manipulation of news is nothing new. It has been floating around in the clouds since the early days of the digital age of naïveté and competing for ever scarcer advertising dollars. News has become a tool for manipulation by the highest bidder!

There is no fire-wall or astute editor to stop the flood of fake news because any news is good news if it sells papers. These polluted waters have infiltrated the infrastructure of democracy like salt rusting away our trust in the institutions we rely on for prudent political action for society to thrive and survive. In other words, fake news is manufactured to serve political and corporate interests by obfuscating the credibility of unbiased and factual reporting of world events. The saying that the truth is the first casualty of war is more relevant today than ever but who really cares about history anymore?

I think the looking glass that mirrors the truth has been shattered by the digital age. The contaminated digital information puts the political and economic perception of reality at risk. The readers of digital news from Facebook or Fox News are like children getting cut on the sharp edges of the new digital age mirror. Society needs to wear down the sharp edges but this takes time that we don’t seem to have the patience for.

Many thought it was about employing cost-cutting measures and becoming more efficient until we realized too late, how manipulated and vulnerable we have become with the digital news delivery system. The digital age is a double edged sword and there's no going back to bows and arrows!

Perhaps the real danger in this confused state between what’s real and fake, is the threat to our way of life posed by things like climate change and species extinction?  Maybe we've become paralyzed from too much information? Maybe our hearts and minds are tied in knots with confusion while our old empire of knowledge and wisdom burns around us? So many questions with few answers that are probably wrong anyway!

Geo-political power relationships are hanging in the balance with this so-called cyber warfare generation. It is much more than a threat to democracy, it’s a clear and present threat to civilized behavior and the environment! I just hope that God is not fake news because we need his help more than ever!