Bob Marley DID say, “The problem is people are being hated when they are real, and being loved when they are fake.” This is a fun quote with many applications.
Bob Marley did NOT say, “Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” This is also a fun quote with many applications, it’s just not something Marley said.
So what? What’s the point?
Both quotes are all over the internet and social media – there are literally millions of citations, postings, and embellishments of the fake Marley quote designed to hammer home a “message” and grab the attention of a reader or follower.
Harmless? Perhaps.
This example of the fake Bob Marley quote is just one of tens of thousands of “false quotes” laced throughout the internet and social media – each one (fake or true) claiming references from the likes of: Marley, JF Kennedy, ML King, Mark Twain, R Regan, B Obama, D Trump, Mother Theresa, K Cobain, etc., etc… the list is exhausting.
Now, I’m not a fan or a critic of Bob Marley – I do wish I knew how to play steel drums, but I was not gifted with any natural rhythm so, I’m content to just listen to the music – I am a fan and advocate for truth – for me, truth matters – so, I’m really perplexed at the ease of our collective consumption, regurgitation, and reprocessing of things that are simply not true.
Tragically, our practice of referencing “fake quotes” is not limited to cute, catchy, or interesting false quotes from famous people – it seems that evolution is not limited to the Galapagos Islands – our internet and social media practices have also evolved to include false information specific to science, politics, religion, diets, random products, etc., etc – again, the list is exhausting.
In fairness to all, I’ll acknowledge there are distinguishable differences between opinion-based, factual, and factually incorrect information – this acknowledgement is coupled with our ability to easily validate these distinguishable differences – but for some reason, we seldom make any attempt at validation.
Here’s my point – the nation is bitterly divided over many things (no surprise there) – the divide is largely associated with politics, COVID, immigration, abortion, government control & spending, taxes, policing, and race – the two primary camps are passionate, loud, and proud of each agenda – each camp’s positions have both merit and compromise – but, we are so embedded and passionate about our camps, that many of us no longer give consideration to truth in what we share/post – all we seem to care about is, does the “messaging” suit our camp’s positon – even more challenging, is that we don’t seem to grasp the compromise we do to our own camp, by leveraging false information.
So, here’s the take away and shocker (for me) – it appears that we don’t care if what we share is false or fake – right or wrong, be damned – there is little to no effort to correct, acknowledge, or make right a false post – much less apologies to the people we profess to be our friends, family and followers.
How is it that so many of us do not care if our “good name” is associated with false or fake information?
For most of us, our friends and family are some of the best, consistent, and lasting relationships in our lives – no matter what happens with politics, COVID, taxes, or any one of the many national divides, our friends and family are likely to stick with us – knowing that, wouldn’t it great if we could at least be truthful with them?
I certainly understand the passion associated with our camp’s positions – that being said, that passion is still subordinate to basic truths.
Kevin's Thoughts 