EDITORIAL: The Fake War on Fake News

The Hagerstown Report is satire. In fact, this is probably the only serious post you'll ever read on this site.

However, I think it's time to get something off my chest. As a satire writer and supporter of liberty, I'm currently terrified by this whole "war on fake news". I am absolutely terrified that satirical criticism of events and politicians will quickly become taboo, labeled as "trouble making", and satire writers targeted for trying to make people think and do their own research.

I purposely make Hagerstown Report articles extremely off-the-wall and unbelievable, and yet some people still believe them! I don't write these articles to trick people, I write these articles to entertain while also pointing out serious issues in our society. Are we so blinded now, believing everything we read, that we don't take the time to question if what we're being told is accurate or not?

You see, the war on "fake news" isn't really a war on fake news. Traditional news media is dying, because in-part people don't trust mainstream media anymore.

And why should they? When major news corporations scream about fake news, but then have to quietly issue retractions about their own fake news articles, perhaps it's time people around the world started doing research on their own, weighing multiple sources before deciding what's real or how they should feel about it.

When anyone can be considered a journalist thanks to social media, the real media is struggling to stay relevant.

Don't get me wrong, there are problems with people spreading false information. However, this isn't a new problem. Let's not forget this country was founded, in part, due to fake news and over-exaggerations regarding the British firing on unarmed civilians in Boston. Compare this incident to recent BLM protests and you start to realize that we have a very long history of stretching the truth for political gains. I don't say this because I am against any of these causes, but only in an attempt to objectively look at what's happening in this country.

The problem with all of these arguments about "fake news" is that people are complaining "the Government should do something!" or "Facebook should do something!".  Allow me to translate this into something a bit more meaningful: "Someone (in authority) should do something (censorship) because I'm too lazy to do my own research, and want everything spoonfed to me."

You don't want that! You don't want the government or the media or someone in authority to "do something".  It won't end well! If you truly want someone in authority to make sure only "the truth" is published, you won't end up with the truth, but merely a bunch of lies presented as the truth, with no ability to refute the evidence! Just ask North Korea's citizens how that's working out for them.

For a people to be truly free, they must be independent thinkers. Do your own research, don't rely on someone else to tell you what's going on, or you're only just going to end up buying into whatever agenda they're spoon feeding you.