Insticts, They Have None

As we learned in class, it is important to have instincts and common sense when reading internet articles. Think of the source, the relevance to your life, the date, and in general, be critical of anything you find on the internet. It is important to always examine any article to find out if it is a reputable source. Sadly, many do not do that and instead find themselves chock full of misinformation through no one's fault but their own. Take this tumblr site for example: http://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/ The title of the site is "'Literally Unbelievable' Stories from The Onion as interpreted by Facebook" and as the title suggests, it is made up of screenshots of people's statuses and comments about The Onion on Facebook. All of these people mistakenly believe that The Onion is a real news source, instead of the parody it so clearly is, and respond angrily to these "outrageous" stories as if they were truly news.

Your goal in life as a digital media consumer should be to avoid being these people. They are a sight to be ridiculed for their ignorance and their lack of instincts and awareness. First of all, everyone should at least know of The Onion even if they have never read it personally. It is a famous enough newspaper that the name should at least ring a bell. And if it doesn't ring a bell, what does that tell you? If it is a legitimate news source, it is well known by all. The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc. The Onion, however? The name doesn't exactly ooze legitimacy. The name doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with news. That should be the first clue. Even though the tagline says "America's Finest News Source", that doesn't mean it is. Captions and taglines lie all the time, like now for instance. Keep a critical mind whenever you read any type of source.

Finally, the content itself should have tipped people off. If it sounds too ridiculous to be true, then it probably is. Do not take everything at face value. If something doesn't seem right, get a second opinion. Do some research. Before you start making a fool out of yourself making accusations at a fake news source.