Unreliable Sources
By: Ihuoma Stephen
Tags: Afghanistan, Antivaxx, Unreliable Sources, Vietnam, Reliable Sources

I’ll do my research.

That’s the sentence being thrown around like a beach ball in a music festival. But the truth is not everyone who claims to be doing their research is doing their research.

Thanks to the internet, the sea of information seems to be rising above its sea level and the detriment has never been direr than with the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone now has something to say, from Dr Fauci to Bill Gates, to the average Tiktok user. Vaxxers and anti-vaxxers, theories and tweets, Facebook videos and government reports. Who do you believe?

To some, it’s a no brainer. They believe the health officials because these professionals can never be wrong. who wouldn’t choose your doctor over a viral tweet from Nicki Minaj?

For some, they’re uncertain. They don’t know who to believe. They’ve gotten some pretty good life hacks from TikTok, and the current TikTok video they just saw that condemned the vaccine was made by a doctor, or at least that was who he said he was.

And then there are the no-brainers again. But these are sure that the vaccine is bad. The vaccine makes your arm magnetic. This is a big “plan-demic.” And big pharma is behind all these.

I know how easy it is to think anyone in a camp other than yours is stupid but you really can’t blame people for what they choose to believe. Taken popular opinion or facts with a pinch of salt is a norm that experience has imposed on us all.

And those who are certain the government and health officials aren’t lying have chosen to overlook the times they did lie. To believe government agencies and experts is by no means a small fit. Because time and time again, those we hold as the pillars of truth in society have been weakened with accusations and indictment of falsehood right before our eyes.

After over two years of investigation, the Washington Post has exposed that senior foreign policy officials in the White House, State and Defense departments have been aware for some time that the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan was failing.

According to interview transcripts from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction obtained by the Post after many lawsuits, for 18 years, these same officials have lied to the public that the intervention was succeeding.

And this is not the first time. In 1971, the Pentagon Papers, a classified study of decision-making about Vietnam, was leaked and published and it showed that the U.S. government had systematically lied about the reality that the U.S. was losing the Vietnam War.

Also, who can forget the famous words of President Nixon, “I am not a crook.” Or those of President Clinton, “I didn’t have sex with that woman!” And it’s a given that those statements were lies.

So forgive anyone who has lost trust in the government. You might argue that the government won’t do the same with the health sector but when politics is involved, such a guarantee is impossible. What would be the incentive for such a lie? Well, I wouldn’t know but the damage has already been done, a huge shadow of doubt has been cast on the credibility of the government and no agency is exempted, not even the CDC.

Sadly, the public is not doing their research, because that’s not a thing for just anyone. You have to be a trained professional in the field, and you will need the time and resources to carry out the required research.

But instead, what we have are smart devices and the internet. And with these, we have accessed a portal of conflicting information from experts both critically acclaimed and self-acclaimed. And the facts or theories they postulate are extremely difficult to ignore. Whatever direction you choose to go, you have an arsenal of experts at your disposal.

This is the world we now live in, where each one of us is like the main character in a mystery novel and the golden rule is, trust no one.