Today is a dark day for the truth. When trying to find an article about propaganda and fake news I stumbled across an article called BBC - Future - Lies, propaganda and fake news: A challenge for our age. The article itself said nothing that has not been said before save for one tidbit. The author opens the article by asking who the first black president was, and then asks the reader to google the answer. Doing so proved to be incredibly disheartening. The third articles when googling “first black president” was an article titled The Seven Black Presidents Before Barack Obama. I did not even bothering reading the article. My disappointment comes not only from the fact that this article existed but that it was the third google search result. I was expecting to just see an article about Barack Obama to be the highest result but instead we get a joke video being the highest result, followed by an article refuting claims that there was a black president before Obama and then an article spouting utter nonsense. After that google includes a list of “similar” questions all of which point to a man named John Hanson being the first black president. Doing a tiny bit of research on the matter here is what I learned about John Hanson:
Gevinson, Alan. "Teaching History.org, Home of the National History Education Clearinghouse." Was There an African American President Before Barack Obama? | Teachinghistory.org. Teachinghistory.org, n.d. Web. 05 May 2017. Gray, Richard. "BBC - Future - Lies, Propaganda and Fake News: A Challenge for Our Age." BBC News. BBC, 01 Mar. 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.
10 Comments
Pearce Reinsch
5/5/2017 07:53:18 pm
I find this sad and hilarious at the same time. Unfortunately this is the result of the clickbait culture that is spreading across the internet. The more outrageous the headline the better it seems to draw in the clicks. I wonder if someday there will be punishment for spreading misinformation without clear indication that it is satire.
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Lesly Garcia
5/8/2017 12:57:49 pm
I very much I agree with what you said. I think we are currently living in a culture that applauds and gets a kick out of outrages things. As a society we like to hear of things that seem to good to be real and we are kick to look. I think that is why does news articles that are obviously fake are top results.
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Adrienne Horca
5/8/2017 10:38:13 am
Ian,
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Laura Chavez
5/8/2017 02:31:35 pm
Usually when I search things on Google I click on the first thing on the top. I am too impatient to look through all the pages to find what I want. It's bad, but I'm sure a lot of people do it as well.
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Stephen Negron
5/11/2017 05:32:15 pm
I happen to be one of those people too, Laura. I probably would not have even noticed the third article at first glance.
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Cristina Cachux
5/10/2017 08:09:37 pm
I think its sad that even after his presidency, people don't Obama as some sort of joke. He was the first black president and regarding race, this should be taken to heart by all Americans. I do not understand why those articles exist and really demean the moves for race that Obama made, all the barriers he tore down should be respected and instead they are not.
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Stephen Negron
5/11/2017 05:35:19 pm
It is sad to see that not much of Obama's accomplishments are well-emphasized. He deserves a lot better than what he gets.
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Angela Bomarito
5/11/2017 08:37:51 pm
Hi Ian, it's so true that with the internet nowadays people are constantly posting false information and before you know it, people believe it. I really do think that Obama did a lot for this country and it's sad that things like that are floating around the internet. I feel like by continuously pointing out his race it is promoting racism. I just feel like we should just refer to him as the President or Obama, not "our first black president", although that is symbolic but he should be known for his work not his skin.
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Fernando Madrigal
5/12/2017 04:59:34 pm
Hello Ian,
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5/21/2017 12:55:26 am
I completely agree with you about fact checking, specially since we live in a world that loves to make a joke of everything. I think google need to come up with better ways to keep the truth the truth.
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AuthorIan Kindall a CD major emphasizing in Game Design Archives
May 2017
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