You must be thinking what does ‘talented liar’ mean right? Well, simply put, let’s say that it is someone who is smart enough to understand what lies can do and how they affect people. And no, I am not writing from personal experience, but from personal observation.
Imagine yourself in this situation, ‘’A stranger sits next to you in a bus. The two of you are indulged in a conversation. Out of the blue, in one of the topics, that person says something which he states to be a fact.’’
At such instances, what is our first reaction? The most probable conclusion we draw is that it could be the truth. And thus, our reaction is that of awe and surprise.
Why? Why do we not tend to question statements that are presented as facts?
It probably is because there isn’t a reason to not trust. Usually most conversations are based on trust or to build trust. And to do that, a bridge of truths must be built. That’s how trust works. But the real issue comes when the bridge is long enough and a careful lie is slipped in. These lies automatically pass as truth, which is how people usually react. Our tendency to not question often leads us to believe things which we have no core idea of how they exist. And therein lays our problems. Before I say anything further on this note, I would like to clear out that I am not asking anyone to be distrustful and look everyone with eyes of doubt.
Now that I have cleared that out, let’s come to the agenda at hand. Lately, well ever since this COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown have come into affect, rumours are spreading. Yes, rumours.
And how are they getting such a fast fat spread to affect so many people so quickly? You are right. Blind, unquestioning belief. People don’t give second thoughts before trusting any information that they get through the medium of WhatsApp. People trust WhatsApp. And it has only led to chaos. I am merely asking everyone to be safe and be smart. Don’t trust all things to be true, and start to question.
Something similar has been running on for the longest of times on our televisions and other form of media too. The honorable media of our country. I am not pointing at any source in particular because the fingers will fall short.
Each coin has two faces. And the media of our country doesn’t even report one face properly, let alone the entire coin.
In these testing times of political and religious unrest and epidemic outbursts, what does a common person do? The media is creating divisions left and right. Is every piece of information we receive on our plates trustworthy?
This article isn’t political, isn’t religious, but something to create awareness about how wrong and haywire everything is.
Please, please, please be doubly sure of what you hold an opinion about before drawing conclusions, before pointing fingers, before actually understanding.
In the beginning of this article I talked about trust and the long bridge. With the media, this bridge already exists. With WhatsApp, its the same. I don’t say burn that bridge, but only ask you to keep a watchful eye at what you allow to cross this bridge.
Hopefully, the bridge of trust between us can grow its first few steps today.
#rumours #trust #opinions #understanding #awareness #fakenews #lies #responsibility #inkedstreets
