Break The Fake

14/09/2025

14/09/2025

14/09/2025

Vague claims are too undefined or unclear to be tested. Yet their lack of specificity is often why we fall for them, as our own hopes, emotions, and biases influence how we interpret them.

For example, a horoscope might say, “Today is a good day to dream. Avoid making any important decisions. The energy of the day might bring new people into your life.”

Because this horoscope uses ambiguous and vague terms, such as “dream,” “important”, and “might”, it doesn’t make any specific, measurable predictions. Even more, because it’s open to interpretation, you could convince yourself that it matches what happened to you during the day, especially if you spent the day searching for “evidence.”

And due to legal restrictions, supplements are purposefully vague. Sweeping claims such as “strengthens the immune system”, “reduces fatigue”, and “improves overall health” are essentially meaningless because of their ambiguity, yet consumers can misinterpret them and wrongly conclude that the products are efficacious.

Ask yourself: What is the claim, and can it be tested? If it’s too vague to falsify, be skeptical!

Comic: Crustacean Singles
Learn more: Why trying to prove yourself wrong is the key to being right: https://thinkingispower.com/why-trying-to-prove-yourself-wrong-is-the-key-to-being-right/

14/09/2025

Changing your mind with evidence is a good thing.

14/09/2025

The Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant

A long time ago six blind men lived in a village in India. The men had heard stories about elephants from the other villagers, and they were very curious.

One day the villagers arranged for the men to visit the palace and experience an elephant for themselves. Each of the blind men approached, and then touched, the part of the animal that was closest to them.

The first man put his hand on the elephant’s side. “Oh, of course! The elephant is just like a wall!”

The second man felt the elephant’s tusk. “You are wrong. The elephant is like a spear.”

The third man touched the elephant’s trunk. “You’re both wrong. The elephant is obviously like a snake.”

The fourth man grabbed one of the elephant’s legs. “I understand perfectly! It’s clear the elephant is like a tall tree.”

The fifth man was tall and reached for the elephant’s ear. “You are all mistaken! The elephant is like a huge fan.”

The sixth man was only able to grasp the elephant’s tail. “How could you all be so wrong?!?! Anyone with any sense would see the elephant is just like a rope.”

Long after the elephant moved on, the blind men continued to argue about what an elephant was. They called each other names, accused the others of lying, and scoffed at their stupidity.

Each was convinced they were right and the others were foolish. Of course, each man was partly right, but all were wrong. Listening to each other’s perspectives would have helped them better understand the true nature of an elephant.

This is the power of diversity. Our perceptions are subjective, limited, and flawed, yet our overconfidence in them can prevent us from learning. To better understand the true nature of reality, recognize that you might not have the full picture and be open to hearing the experiences of others.

ARTICLE:thinkingispower.com/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant-is-perception-reality/

14/09/2025

Get more posters like this with the WeAreTeachers bundle!

✨ Use them as teaching tools within a media literacy curriculum.
✨ Post them in your classroom.
✨ Or use them with Checkology® lessons.

👉🏾 Learn more: https://go.newslit.org/NLPbundle

14/09/2025

Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It's a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology....

14/09/2025

Things are getting out of hand online right now. Please remember this.

Algorithms can distort reality by creating echo chambers and filter bubbles, which limit exposure to diverse perspectives and reinforce existing beliefs, leading to biased perceptions of social norms and political polarization. They also amplify engaging but sensationalist, extreme, or misleading content, increasing reach of fake news and potentially contributing to mental health issues like anxiety. Furthermore, algorithms can reflect and amplify human biases present in the data they are trained on.

Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers: Algorithms personalize content based on user interactions, leading to filter bubbles that exclude information users dislike and echo chambers where users are repeatedly exposed to agreeable viewpoints. This creates a narrowed perspective and a distorted understanding of what's happening in the real world, as users see too much of one side.

• Amplification of Extreme Content: To maximize engagement, algorithms can promote content that is sensationalist, extreme, or divisive, which may include hate speech or disinformation. This encourages the creation of this type of content and can warp public perceptions of norms.

• Confirmation Bias Reinforcement: By curating content that aligns with users' existing views, algorithms reinforce confirmation bias—the tendency to favor information that confirms what one already believes. This contributes to post-truth thinking, where emotions and certainties override facts.

Consequences of Algorithmic Distortions

• Increased Polarization: The creation of echo chambers and amplification of extreme content fuel political and cultural polarization by deepening divisions between groups and making it harder to find common ground.

• Harmful Content and Disinformation: Algorithms can increase the reach of fake news, misinformation, and other damaging content, potentially leading to individuals acting on misleading health information or societal harm.

• Mental Health Impacts: Algorithms can contribute to negative mood loops, anxiety, anger, and depression by promoting emotionally stimulating content and fostering unhealthy social comparisons

The "Funhouse Mirror" Effect
• Social media, driven by algorithms, acts like a "funhouse mirror," not an accurate reflection of society. It distorts reality by giving disproportionate influence to a small, vocal, and often extreme minority of
Users.

14/09/2025

14/09/2025

“Fake News: How We Can Save Ourselves From Disinformation”
Radical with Amol Rajan
(Eliot Higgins) BBC Radio4,
14 August 2025

Summary of episode:

“Conspiracy theories have flooded the internet in recent years and a growing number of people are avoiding mainstream news.
Eliot Higgins, founder of the open source investigative organisation Bellingcat, thinks this is partly down to a lack of trust in institutions, which is leading to a crisis of democracy in Britain and elsewhere.”

“He discusses why we need to spend less time online, improve media literacy and how Bellingcat has built a community of open source investigators on Discord.
Eliot also explains how his team tracked down the Russian agents behind the Salisbury poisonings, took on Putin's Kremlin and uncovered what really happened to Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.”

Radical with Amol Rajan
“Fake News: How We Can Save Ourselves From Disinformation”
(Eliot Higgins)
14 August 2025
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002h0g1?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

14/09/2025

A book titled, “The Shooting of Charlie Kirk” briefly appeared on Amazon with a publication date predating conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. But it was created using AI after the…

14/09/2025

After the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, social media claims offering political views of the assassination and the reaction to it quickly spread. One message falsely claimed that "not a single Republican condemned" the targeted shooting of a Democratic politician in Minnesota....