Torah’s Take on Fake News:
How to spot Fake News every time.
This week we read the Episode of the Spies (Numbers 13:1) -- everything you need to know to spot Fake News, whatever the source, whatever your politics.
1) Is this news necessary?
The spies did not need to spy the Land of Israel. There was ample testimonial evidence that it was a good land and the Almighty had developed a solid reputation for delivering. This was less than eighteen months from plagues, splitting seas, etc.
News is a manufactured item with billions of marketing dollars expended to hook you. Nothing nefarious about that, every item in the supermarket has the same story. If you think twice before buying a two-ounce $10.99 bottle of infused basil, Tuscan-herb virgin olive oil, instead of an $8 half-gallon, think if you need this particular headline news. Is it newsworthy? Is it relevant? Do I really care? How come slow news days never lead to a thinner paper or a shorter broadcast? Because like any product, news agencies are fighting for the preservation and relevance. (BTW I wasn’t fair to infused oil.)
2) Do these news-people have a bias?
The spies had motives in requesting this assignment; to dissuade the Jews from entering the Promised Land. They didn’t advertise that, but it was there.
Claims of objectivity are not dubious, they are lies. I have a subjective interest in everything, including city-council elections in South Myanmar -- in that case I want them out of my way so I can go back to my soap opera. IOW I’m not objective, my subjective position is indifference. Everyone has a worldview and that is nothing to be ashamed of -- if you are up front about it. Don’t listen to the story to find out what happened, listen to the story to find out what the medium wants you to believe happened.
3) Facts are misrepresented with opening lines.
Opening phrases are misleading. The spies began their reportage with “it is a land flowing with milk and honey, but…” because every lie needs a grain of truth to be palatable for popular consumption.
4) Extraneous, negative comments set the tone.
The Spies mentioned the Amalekites even though the Amalekites were not in the Promised land. Since the Jews had already had a terrifying encounter with this war-like people, it would cast the whole endeavor in a negative light.
It’s a trick that amateur gossipers also use regularly. Throw in a few titillating crumbs that have nothing to do with the alleged story; it will get tongues wagging – which is good for business.
5) Give the facts, then the story. The Spies brought the huge ripe fruit. Instead of allowing the fruits to speak for themselves of the lusciousness of the land, they turned the story into a negative: the peoples there are equally big and strong and little Jewish guys like us will be clobbered.
Facts are stubborn things, said John Adams. True that, but not to worry: facts are easily massaged into place.
Joke: An the Israeli soldier was visiting the Washington Zoo when a baby fell into the lion’s den. The elite paratrooper jumped in and saved the baby, to the grateful tears of the mother and the applause of everyone there. The headlines the next morning was “Israeli Soldier Steals African Immigrant’s Lunch”.
6) Reporters project themselves on stories.
“We felt like grasshoppers and so we were in their eyes,” lamented the spies. Precisely. Because you saw yourselves as such, so they saw you.
7) nuff said.