<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0First the disclaimer:\u00a0 I use a cell phone, the internet, email, and frequently do online research.\u00a0 I also read books, magazines, and newspapers (real, paper based, non-electronically delivered books, magazines, and newspapers).\u00a0 I also watch and\/or listen to the broadcast news.\u00a0 By choice, I do not have a personal social media account, therefore, I do not follow what others post on Facebook, Twitter, or the like.\u00a0 Do not even get me started on Tik Tok.\u00a0 I grew up admiring the professionalism of both print and broadcast news journalists.\u00a0 With that said, it alarms me greatly that people are currently bombarded with so much information (much of it of a highly trivial nature) that our ability to absorb news accurately is being seriously eroded.\u00a0 Take the following item that ran in the <\/span>Marquette Mining Journal<\/span><\/i>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Marquette\u2019s new UFO landing strip is a good idea – <\/b>(A <\/span>Marquette Mining Journal <\/span><\/i>editorial)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJust checking.\u00a0 There is, of course, no UFO landing strip , and possibly no UFOs –\u00a0 but that is fodder for another editorial.\u00a0 What we really wanted to see is if anyone intended on reading past the headline.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 2014, a study by the Media Insight Project found that 41 percent of Americans had watched, read, or heard any in-depth news stories – beyond the headlines – in the past week.\u00a0 So, in other words, the majority of Americans don\u2019t read past the headline.\u00a0 We get it.\u00a0 You\u2019re busy.\u00a0 Spending 10 or more minutes with an article is asking a lot. \u00a0 But, how much information can you get from a headline?\u00a0 A candidate\u2019s name?\u00a0 That city council has decided to do something?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And, oh boy, let\u2019s not get into the really complicated issues, like the U.P.\u2019s complex energy challenges.\u00a0 I mean, as long as we know the U.P. has elaborate power issues, is it important also to know what they are?\u00a0 Perhaps only if we want to find a workable solution.\u00a0 Knowing – and understanding – what\u2019s happening in our community and the world around us is important because it impacts our way of life.\u00a0 How can we go about solving problems if we don\u2019t know what they are?\u00a0 How can we affect change if we don\u2019t understand the issue?\u00a0 How can we responsibly elect officials we know nothing about?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The alarming aspect of headline-only readers is this appears to carry over to social media as well, where people continue to share stories that are not factual.\u00a0 Users might see something interesting in their newsfeed and simply click \u2018share\u2019 without ever reading the story they\u2019ve just played a part in disseminating to others.\u00a0 Suddenly, otherwise false information is factual and hundreds, thousands, or even millions now believe it to be true.\u00a0 Just like you can\u2019t judge a book by its cover, you also can not make a snap conclusion from a headline.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But of course, you know this – you finished reading this editorial.\u00a0 Please, spread the word – and share that on social media.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his book <\/span>Everything All At Once <\/span><\/i>(2017 – Rodale Books – edited by Corey S. Powell), Bill Nye (yes, the same Bill Nye of the <\/span>Bill Nye the Science Guy<\/span><\/i> series) tackles a host of issues that humans need to come to grips with.\u00a0 While Bill Nye is a tad younger than I am, there are many similarities in the historical and cultural references that we share.\u00a0 The subtitle of this book is <\/span>How to unleash your inner nerd, tap into radical curiosity, and solve any problem<\/span><\/i>, but I can assure anyone who picks it up, it is not just a bunch of \u2018nerd-speak\u2019.\u00a0 Bill Nye should throw his hat into the ring for the 2024 presidential elections because what he says makes a lot of sense.\u00a0 Certainly he has a vested interest in people reading his books (namely, selling more books), but Nye has a loftier purpose he is not shy about sharing his thoughts on:\u00a0 the survival of the human species.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the many topics he covers in <\/span>Everything All at Once<\/span><\/i> is found in a chapter entitled \u2018Critical Thinking, Critical Filtering\u2019.\u00a0 He tells readers about a Web site he found about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus:\u00a0 \u201cThis remarkable creature lives in just one small section of the temperate rainforests of Washington State.\u00a0 The Tree Octopus pounces on frogs or rodents from tree limbs and then crawls back up to safety.\u00a0 It has a mucus coating that protects its body from drying out.\u00a0 It is a true evolutionary oddity:\u00a0 its aquatic ancestors were isolated on land when the oceans receded in this area, and one isolated population adapted by developing a unique tree climbing ability.\u00a0 Truly a biological marvel.\u00a0 The site even encourages Web visitors to become a \u2018friend\u2019 of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus because the poor creature is endangered – what with all those mean-spirited, forest-denuding loggers, and all,\u00a0 The site issues a call to arms:\u00a0 \u2018Together, we have the power to build a grass-roots campaign to save the Tree Octopus.\u2019.\u00a0 The site adds this additional emotional element to the story, and it is very effective.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 You\u2019ve never heard of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus?\u00a0 Good, because it doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 It is a hoax created by someone who calls himself \u2018Lyle Zapato\u2019, a devious prankster who has created a marvelously detailed and convincing Web site dedicated to this imaginary creature.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Like the Marquette UFO Landing site editorial we opened with, one could smile and say, \u201cTsk, it is just a harmless prank.\u00a0 Some people will believe anything,\u201d but that is exactly the point.\u00a0 In the case of the NW Tree Octopus, educators in Connecticut did a little hands on research about the effects of this prank site.\u00a0 Nye continues:\u00a0 \u201cIn one test, educators in Connecticut asked a group of 25 seventh graders to look at the Tree Octopus Website.\u00a0 Every single one of them accepted it as real.\u00a0 At the time of the test, the students all went to the same fake Website, found the same fake information, and compared fake notes with one another.\u00a0 Then they all concluded that the fake \u2018facts\u2019 were real.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t pursue multiple reference sources.\u00a0 They did not filter the low-quality information, because they had no training in how to do it.\u00a0 Today if you Google \u201ctree octopus,\u201d, this site is (naturally) the first that comes up.\u00a0 Now, at least there is a debunking Snopes page that shows up as well, but even so, it is easy to get sucked into the seductive falsehood of the Zapato site.\u00a0 The story makes for a wonderful science-class lesson – thank you for that, Lyle Zapato (<\/span>if in fact that is your real name!<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 But for me there\u2019s a much bigger message here.“<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the Ontonagon Area Schools installed the technology needed for us to integrate the World Wide Web into our classrooms, one of the first things I noticed was the sheer volume of material that popped up anytime a student did a Web search.\u00a0 For example, a simple topic heading like \u2018Moons in the Solar System\u2019 found 845,600 entries in .46 seconds.\u00a0 I would remind my students that even if you opened and closed that many sites for only one second each, it would take 234.9 hours or 9.8 days, and that is without bothering to read any of the content.\u00a0 The lesson we learned was all about filtering – identify a few credible sources and ignore the rest.\u00a0 When we can access such a huge volume of material in such a short time, learning to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, becomes the most important task at hand.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nye offers five specific ways to filter suspicious claims sure to pop up when one is doing Web searches.\u00a0 They can be applied before you look for further supporting data and references about a topic:\u00a0 \u201c1) Is it part of an ad or \u2018sponsored content\u2019?\u00a0 2) Does it clearly benefit a specific person or company?\u00a0 3) Does it have no obvious source at all? 4) Does it contradict things you\u2019ve heard before?\u00a0 (That doesn\u2019t make it wrong, just suspicious), and finally 5) Is it something you really <\/span>want<\/span><\/i> to be true?\u00a0 If so, you need to be extra careful.\u201d\u00a0 Nye\u2019s suggested plan for filtering suspicious information reminds me a lot of the old adage, \u201cNothing ruins a good argument than some dang fool with the facts.\u201d \u00a0 I co-opted this saying a bit by reminding my students, \u201cAny fool with an internet connection can post anything they want to on the internet but it takes another fool to believe everything they find posted there.\u201d\u00a0 It will be a tough act to rid the internet of bogus postings, so it is doubly important that we educate people how to spot posts that manipulate the truth or just plain lie.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remember that other sage advice?\u00a0 \u201cNever trust any one who says, \u2018Trust me\u2019, would I lie to you?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 During the early days of the Cold War, President Eisenhower proposed a policy called \u2018Open Skies’\u00a0 that would allow the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to make surveillance flights over each other\u2019s territory (a plan that was ultimately rejected).\u00a0 In the 1980s, American scholar Suzanne Massie advised President Regan to learn a few Russian proverbs to use when discussing U.S.\/U.S.S.R. relations because, \u201cThe Russians like to talk in proverbs.\u201d\u00a0 One of them (\u201cTrust, but verify\u201d) became one of Regan\u2019s frequently used catch phrases.\u00a0 Maybe we can update again for use in the digital world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When my daughter Elizabeth was in graduate school at the University of Colorado, she worked in their tutoring center.\u00a0 She advised her students that certain sites like Wikipedia were not acceptable sources for research. \u00a0 Wikipedia, as an \u2018open source\u2019,\u00a0 meant things that\u00a0 people posted there could be revised without much oversite.\u00a0 I advised my own students that if you use Wiki to look up an event, make sure you also use another source to corroborate the information.\u00a0 In those days, even simple things like \u2018the First Moon Landing\u2019 were posted on Wiki containing incorrect facts.\u00a0 The last time I updated the WOAS-FM section that pops up when someone searches for us on Wikipedia, the fact checkers asked for some specific sources for the information that I wanted to add to the section that tells our history.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say if some institutions of higher learning have relaxed their policies about using Wiki these days, but it was nice to see that my original entries could not be changed without some proof of their authenticity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nye provides a little more advice on how to avoid the most noxious materials that arrive in one form or another:\u00a0 \u201cSome sources are so untrustworthy, they can\u2019t be saved.\u00a0 Especially for those of you who read a lot of news online, I have a simple piece of advice:\u00a0 \u2018Don\u2019t bother with the comments section.\u2019\u00a0 The places where anyone can spout off about an article or a blog post have become notorious information cesspools, where emotions run high and data quality is low or nonexistent.\u00a0 A journalist friend of mine contacted me recently about my criticism of climate-change deniers.\u00a0 She said, \u2018Did you see the comments?\u00a0 You have to respond right away.\u2019\u00a0 I explained, calmly, that no, I really did not.\u00a0 It is consistent with the modern expression \u2018Haters gonna hate.\u2019\u00a0 As a rule, I do not respond to the anonymous combatants who are passionately hovering over their keyboards 24 hours a day, ready to pounce on an odd point that really, really bothers them;\u00a0 sometimes they pounce even when there\u2019s nothing in the original article that\u2019s related to the vitriol they decide to post in the comment section below.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People fixating on a few negative points spread by angry or malicious Tweets is not a new phenomenon.\u00a0 Nye points out that this sort of \u2018selection bias\u2019 or \u2018selection effect\u2019 is built in to how humans process information.\u00a0 When we are bombarded with this sort of misinformation and lies, the effect is amplified.\u00a0 This causes mountains become mole hills, untruths to become \u2018facts\u2019, and a minority of haters to spread their vile doctrines misrepresented as majority opinions.\u00a0 Toss in a few \u2018bots\u2019 that can spread one lie tens of thousands of times and the need for us all to step back and critically filter this avalanche of false multimedia misinformation becomes even more critical if we are to function as a civilized society.\u00a0 As we saw with the last presidential election cycle, we all needed to set our filters on \u2018high\u2019 and remember our borrowed Russian proverb; \u201cTrust, but verify.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I add a hearty \u2018Amen\u2019 to Brother Bill\u2019s sentiments.\u00a0 A student once asked me why I don\u2019t have a social media account:\u00a0 \u201cDoesn\u2019t it bother you that some people post bad things about you?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 My answer was consistent with what Nye said about \u2018Haters gonna hate\u2019:\u00a0 \u201cNope, if someone has a problem with me and can\u2019t tell me face to face, then they are the one with the problem, not me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t control what someone else says about me behind my back so I won\u2019t waste my time with it.\u201d\u00a0 With that said, let me add that I still believe the internet, the various branches of mass and social media that it has spawned, and the consumers who use them have the potential to do useful – even great – things.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the aftermath of the last election (no, I will not rehash the whole thing here), I heard someone call into a local talk show with one of those internet based conspiracy theories about something they professed to be yet another \u2018evil government plot\u2019.\u00a0 It was so ludicrous it made me actually laugh out loud.\u00a0 As the hosts discussed it, one of them kind of took the caller\u2019s side saying, \u201cWell, it sounded like he knew what he was talking about.\u201d\u00a0 Thankfully someone else pointed out that it sounded more like an internet spread \u2018theory\u2019 advanced without any facts to back it up.\u00a0 !\u00a0 I hope we all will be smart enough to filter out the nonsense from the facts so these powerful tools at our fingertips will be used for more than muckraking, name calling, and advocating behavior that does not advance a doctrine of \u2018good for all people\u2019.\u00a0 It is the only civilized way to proceed to a happier, more productive future both here and abroad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Sir Paul gets down with the news in A DAY IN THE LIFE – live!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0First the disclaimer:\u00a0 I use a cell phone, the internet, email, and frequently do online research.\u00a0 I also read books, magazines, and newspapers (real, paper based, non-electronically delivered books, magazines, and newspapers).\u00a0 I also watch and\/or listen to the broadcast news.\u00a0 By choice, I do not have a personal social media account, therefore, I 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