The best article that confirms everything you believe - post now!
OH MY GOD! You’ve done it! You have found the perfect article that makes the exact point that you want to make but more authoritatively. It contains a chart by snopes.com, a reference to an ordinance, law or rulebook that includes letters and numbers and a quote by Abraham Lincoln that must be from his Gettysburg address and since he mentions websites it must be true because websites have addresses.
Congratulations! You have found a way to convert 1000s of people to your way of thinking. All you have to do is click on the share button and tag it correctly, and Voila! People will see that your opinion has been right all along.
But hold on, cowboy, cowgirl, or cowgenderindeterminant, -undocumented, -x. Even if this article says the things you have been thinking, it is important to check its sources. Even outstanding news organizations get things wrong once in a while and confirmation bias is a real thing. So, take a deep breath and check the validity of the quotes, the graph and the “facts” contained within the document. It is super simple to do.
Congratulations! You have found a way to convert 1000s of people to your way of thinking. All you have to do is click on the share button and tag it correctly, and Voila! People will see that your opinion has been right all along.
But hold on, cowboy, cowgirl, or cowgenderindeterminant, -undocumented, -x. Even if this article says the things you have been thinking, it is important to check its sources. Even outstanding news organizations get things wrong once in a while and confirmation bias is a real thing. So, take a deep breath and check the validity of the quotes, the graph and the “facts” contained within the document. It is super simple to do.
- Check the actual source of the information. If your article is quoting something from another website, like snopes, a rulebook or a person, find out if those places actually contain the information presented. Usually, it will take you about 2.5 seconds to run a Google check.
- Check other sources. If CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, the New York Times, the Washington Post or other “main stream media” aren’t reporting it, there is a good chance that you’ve fallen for click bait and intentional misinformation. There are several fake news sites, none of them are the ones that Trump hates and labels as such.
- Use a fact checking website, like snopes.
- Cite your sources – note the plural. Don’t keep posting the same website over and over to refute people who say what you are sharing is false. Use several websites. Just make sure they aren’t all copying the same article.
- Make sure that what you are quoting is an actual fact and not opinion. Oftentimes, talking heads opinions are misinterpreted as fact. If a person says something is biblical apocalypse – that’s an opinion.