A little information is dangerous. If you attended college, you’ve experienced the psychology majors attend their first week of 101 studies and began diagnosing the people around them. Having no idea of the level of studying a person required to make such claims. The eager teammate who sees a play on the board and as soon as the team hits the court or field, they are the coach. Barking out directions and pointing people into position, the wrong position of course. This is currently going on with the coronavirus pandemic. It is 3/16/2020 and the virus has been in the states for about a week. Well, at least this COVID-19 strand. Somehow, we have all these instant experts blasting their thoughts all over the internet. “It’s a hoax.” “It’s a serious super contagious respiratory virus that can kill.” “Blacks can’t get it.” “Blacks are at most risk.” “Only old people and babies are at risk” “Everyone will be fine just stay in your house for a month.” Oh, and this one “Buy as much toilet paper as possible.” Where did this come from?
People in this information age live for the race to be first. First to report it. First to debunk it. First to see it. First to buy it. First to try it. This age doesn’t put to much weight on truth and accuracy either. Just speed. We can make anything a meme and make the world jump. 2 or 3 weeks ago, someone decided to tell the world that a certain day was the only day their brooms could stand up on its own. Social media was flooded with people standing their broom up. It turns out the brooms can stand up on their own, every day. The people wanted to be first to do it or first to prove the person wrong and be the first to state they were. Instead, the person putting out false information had the first and last laugh. They manipulated a large part of the world showing them that they’ll believe anything or try to debunk it without much information.
The only issue is that most people didn’t get the message and moved on to the next social media craze. I’m sure they weren’t expecting a pandemic but it’s here either way. Schools are closed for weeks at least. Restaurants are forbidden from serving food. Supermarkets are out of bottled water (and toilet tissue). This is just one week in. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) put out a suggestion that no crowds greater than 50 should gather for 2 months. That puts us in mid-May. No concerts. No sports. No mass transit. No bars/lounges. This is either the biggest overreaction to a different strand of a common cold or the best handling of a pandemic ever. Time will tell the truth. Memes will tell something…first.
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The danger of instant experts is the willingness of so many people blindly believing them. Worst than that, share the information without confirming it. The people who would not have listened to the previous person is listening now because of who shared it. A former high school classmate who barely graduated shares something you may read it and disregard it. Your former professor shares the same meme/post you may start to listen or share it yourself. Now, someone who would listen to you is sharing. That is how bad/wrong information spreads like wildfire on the internet. Please be mindful of that. If something is fairly new, understand that there are no experts. They may state they are but that is impossible.
You need to have experience to be an expert. You need to have studied the history of something to understand it. If there is no history or time to experience something repeatedly then there is no expert. If this makes you uncomfortable, find comfort in knowing you will not be as gullible as you once were. Knowledge is power.
In closing, a little information is dangerous. Especially, in this information age. There are no barriers to entry. Anyone can create a meme and share it. Any college-educated person with Dr. in front of their name can go on television as an expert. Self-proclamation is cool in sports and entertainment but it should stop there. We don’t need people raising their hands to speak while having the same information as everyone else. The President of the United States saying “Everything is under control.” holds the same weight as the homeless person at the gas station saying it. This will be the case until enough time has passed and information is gathered to confirm or deny it because a little information is dangerous.
Food for thought…You do the dishes.
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