What's a Little Hoax?

Spreading an untrue hoax is not harmless. It perpetuates the idea that lies do not harm. It allows conspiracy theories to thrive. It allows people to justify supporting someone who constantly lies. Shading the truth is a lie. Look, we all tell lies to protect someone we love or ourselves. We don't really want our auntie to know that her new dress looks like she is wearing part of a circus tent. So, we tell her something to spare her feelings.

But spreading a hoax on a social medium is not the same thing. If you accept one lie and offer it to others as harmless, you make the next one and the next one and on and on easier. This is how propaganda works. It starts with something innocuous and before it is all said and done, you are believing that entire groups of people are evil. Accepting a lie to justify the next leads you and what you may believe to accept that facts are capricious. Suddenly, alternative facts and fake news are acceptable.

Alternative facts are better known as lies, and fake news is both propaganda and a lie. Sadly, we have too many people who accept these terms as shadings of reality. They use these lies to confirm their bias. They accept lies to justify a moral choice. A moral choice using a lie to justify is immoral. If you get something born from this lie, is it not the tainted?

Acceptance of such then is the basis of power. There is then a moral consequence if you fail -- we fail to speak truth to power. Spreading of a simple, seemingly harmless hoax is but a beginning. Check that Facebook hoax before you post. It will just take a moment.  As we start a new time and examine and reflect, ask, "Have I spoke the truth or accepted a lie?"