Cyber Power Article Reflection

I chose to read this article because I found it to be very pertinent in today’s society. It is undeniable that social media and the internet have played a huge role in our global society, however a large portion of the change is in social media and politics/government. As the article talks about, “fake news” is a term becoming more and more colloquial as it becomes a more often occurrence. There are many people who make a living off of doctoring photos and mastering photoshop in order to create images for the public to see that depict an inaccurate idea, or convey inaccurate information. While it is true that many developed and developing countries use social media in order to campaign, or advertise aspects of their government or people within them, there is so much that happens that has absolutely nothing to do with the truth of the government or political stances. There are articles written all over the place, making up stories about what the U.S president is doing, or what the ruler of a country is saying about its people, or what a nation’s military is “secretly” planning to do with their weapons. All of these “fake news” stories are untrue, but the issue is that most of the public does not know that. These websites or images look real, the people are just trying to gain information, and they happen to fall upon these ridiculous stories that put irrelevant ideas in peoples’ heads. 
Facebook and Twitter are among the most used social media platforms, and you will see different people talking about all different political issues all of the time. People have now come to believe that these social media platforms are an appropriate place to put their stories out there, and these further blur the lines in politics so much. If a person does not know any better, they read “fake news” tell their friends, and it gets around like gossip. A group of people are led to believe something that probably did not even occur, and they want to feel informed and like they have strong political views, so then they just stick with those beliefs, which are all under false pretenses, and in the end no one knows what they are talking about. Many people do not even know what they want from the people representing their state/region/city/country, which leaves fewer and fewer people with views from accurate information, therefore fewer people with realistic beliefs. It amazes me how confusing “fake news” has made our world, and so quickly. I am interested in seeing more of what this means for the political figures who are actually having all these things said about them.

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