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I’ve been trying really hard not to call people “special.”
But life keeps giving me new opportunities to meet a brand-new special person every single time.
My definition of a special person is someone who forgets that during a drought, water evaporates and needs to be conserved. When it hasn’t rained for two months, it’s perfectly normal to have a drought. But he, being extremely well-informed and blessed with an above-average intellect, decides that the water has actually been stolen and that it’s all part of a conspiracy.
So who’s to blame for the fact that this special person was influenced so deeply that his opinion became completely rooted?
Well, there are several factors. People have always been influenced, one way or another. Before the internet, manipulation mostly came through propaganda. Today it’s much easier. The internet creates the perfect environment for conspiracy theories and fake news.
So what is fake news?
It’s the kind of story that’s either completely made up or contains just a tiny grain of truth. Even that 1% can be enough to convince people that the remaining 99% is real, especially if the information keeps being repeated over and over again.
It all depends on how analytical someone is… or isn’t.
That’s how you end up believing that someone is putting computer chips into your body if you drink Coca-Cola. Some people are an endless source of hallucinations.
That’s also how entire families pack up and leave for another country because they’ve been convinced they’ll be welcomed with open arms. A very recent example: Ceuta. If you haven’t been following the news, do a quick search and you’ll see the propaganda surrounding this entire event.
Anyway, here’s my own summary. What I’m writing is simply my perspective. If I’m wrong about something, feel free to correct me.
The story starts like this.
Spain has an enclave in Africa, a piece of land it has controlled for roughly 540 years. It’s not physically connected to mainland Europe; if you want to reach continental Europe from there, you need to cross by sea.
Morocco, being Ceuta’s direct neighbor, claims this territory, but the whole story is much more complicated, and I don’t know all of Morocco’s specific demands regarding this piece of land. Anyway, that’s not the important part.
What is important is that a few days ago, a huge wave of people from the African continent—and I say “the African continent” because you can’t interview 60,000 people and ask every single one exactly where they’re from.
Thy tried to reach a place that offers more opportunities than their own countries, with more permissive laws, better healthcare systems, and social assistance. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a better life. Everybody wants that.
But in my opinion, the real problem wasn’t what to do with those people, or that “Europe is being invaded,” as so many immediately claimed.
That land isn’t Europe.
It’s Africa.
FOX News, I don’t think buying an atlas would hurt. Yes, Ceuta is a Spanish enclave in Africa and it’s part of the European Union. But geographically, it’s still in Africa.
The real issue is the propaganda. Where did it start? How did people organize so quickly that within just two days they were able to storm this enclave?
How was it possible for messages on social media to create such mass hysteria? Why didn’t social media platforms stop this garbage from spreading? I’m talking mainly about Facebook and Instagram. I’m not trying to accuse them outright of deliberately enabling this mess, but…
People died.
I don’t know what “stopping fake news” means to you, but in my opinion, everyone who helped spread those rumors should bear some responsibility.
Do you ever wonder why the European Union keeps fining these companies?
This is exactly why.
You aren’t capable of stopping anything, yet you don’t seem to care. And considering the recent events, where your yellow emperor seems to have a personal grudge against Spain…
…it’s hard not to at least consider the possibility that letting certain rumors spread unchecked might not always be just an accident. “Don’t do what we want? Fine, we’ll create problems for you.” Except this problem turned into a human tragedy.
So, Zucky…
What do we do now?
Maybe delete a little bit of this garbage too?
I tried finding some of the original posts related to all this, but I couldn’t. Maybe I just wasn’t good enough at searching.
But the danger people are exposed to is enormous.
And the saddest part is that people are being used. They’re risking their lives because they genuinely hope for a better future.
Who benefits from that?
What does anyone gain?
What if the exact same thing happened in reverse?
What if massive crowds from South America suddenly gathered at the U.S. border because of the same kind of rumors?
Would those platforms have managed to stop the misinformation then?
Instead, everyone immediately started giving opinions based on their ideology—or based on whoever sponsors them. Suddenly it was all about Europe being invaded, Spain becoming Muslim, and so on.
Oh, and the “Spain is becoming Muslim” argument is my favorite.
Dear people, large parts of what is now Spain were under Muslim rule for nearly eight centuries, and in several regions the population actually became majority Muslim.
Later, many were forcibly converted to Christianity or expelled.
So what do I take away from all of this?
- The European Union is right to push for tools that help stop fake news, because it can escalate into social and humanitarian crises.
- No social media platform is going to take responsibility for the hysteria it helped spread.
- Whoever controls the channels through which information reaches people also has the power to influence them. I’m not saying that’s necessarily what happened here, but there are some very big question marks.
The internet has made it possible for information to spread at incredible speed.
Unfortunately, it has also made it much harder to verify whether that information is actually true.
I think everyone should take a moment before acting on a news story, verify it as carefully as possible, and think through their decisions so they don’t end up putting their own lives in danger.
