The topic tonight is disinformation and how to correctly source your news. A lot of you are
continuously asking me, “E, what sources do you read”, “What news do you read”, “What place
can I trust the information I need”. The answer I’ve given you year in, year out is that you
cannot blindly trust sources.
First, if you are just looking at right wing news like Epoch Times or Breitbart or etc. etc., then
you are in an echo chamber. You are not looking for accurate information, you are looking for
information that has confirmation bias built into it. That is what you want to hear. There are
myriad sources like this on either side of the aisle. CNN, MSNBC, etc. catering to people on the
left. You have all these other organizations catering to people on the right. That is a terrible way
to arrive at a well-developed opinion.
What I will again tell you, is you need to be analytical with the information you are taking in.
You need to be examining all sides, all opinions. You need to be looking at who wrote it, why did
they write it. What is the source of this information. Where did this story originate from. How do
I know if its true or not. Is it a story that other people are accurately reporting on. Is it a story
that people have attempted to debunk. Is there information about this that I can obtain from
sources outside of the one I am looking at that can either help confirm this or debunk it. Deny it.
We need to be analytical. Doing our own research is not simply looking for outlandish stories
that cater to our confirmation bias that pray on our patriotism, our hopes, our fears or our faith.