The Perilous Proliferation of Fake News

Fake news continues to spread like wildfire. Today, we face such a controversial argument over fake news. While many claim that fake news is not real, others agree with the opposite view that fake news is indeed a real thing. Biased political reports being an example. In the 21st century, there is rarely anything you can trust because of the desperation of bloggers trying to get money. This ruins the image of journalism, or the Fourth Estate, which is spreading only the truth.

Yet, the bloggers and opinion writers basing their work off of something they overheard is ruining the truth that journalists spread. The way the Fourth Estate preaches the truth should be based upon researched factual evidence and events, not any “rumored” events that haven’t been proven to be truthful.

An example of what fake news does can be seen from what happened at the ‘Comet Ping Pong’, a pizza shop in northwestern Washington D.C.. On Dec.

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4, 2016, it was reported that a man came into the pizza shop bearing a rifle. While no one was hurt and the liar remained anonymous, people scratched their heads as to why this had happened. After searching, many discovered what the cause was. About a month prior to the incident, there was a series of tweets widely spread around the Internet about how ‘Comet Ping Pong’ was the base for a pedophilic sex ring, involving the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the democratic party. Shop operators received threats from right wing activists who believed the reports were true.

Eventually, more words were being spread about the pizza shop and social media users tagged “#pizzagate” to their posts including hateful comments regarding the shop. It even came to the point where social media had to block any posts or tweets about “#pizzagate”. Anyone involved with the pizza shop was targeted by neighbors and other shops and received continuous threats. Those involved with the pizza shop even claimed to be frightened and terrified of confrontations with those believing in the fake news. This led up to the 28 year old man walking into the shop with his rifle to save the children who were so called “sex traffic slaves”. The man was actually very kind and “soft spoken” and did this out of the kindness in his heart. No one was hurt or trafficked, it was just a lie. There was no specific person owning up to this incident, along with no apologetic response as to what had happened.

Just this event proves how much damage fake news can lead to, even ruining the truthful job of the Fourth Estate. Even reading about this happening and seeing it for myself scared me, and made me realize how powerful lies can be. So, be careful what you post and write about because it affects lives everywhere, even if it is unintended.