Ci 2312 Internet Troll and Fake News
Due to the popularity of the Internet, more and more people have access to the Internet and post their thoughts online. However, not everyone has good intentions to communicate with others, which leads to a series of problems such as internet troll and fake news. The first issue I would like to discuss is internet troll; because of the anonymity of the Internet, many people are not fully aware that they need to take responsibility for what they say. In such cases, they often take the pressure they feel in their lives to the Internet. For example, some people may think that arguing with others or starting a war on the Internet can show that they have “power.” This can lead to misunderstandings among the uninformed public, who can join such conflicts to harm others. Moreover, Internet trolls can lead to cyber violence, exposing some people to malice from all over the world. And because of the Internet’s anonymity, we cannot address the harm and misunderstanding caused by these people. The amount of negativity they bring can lead to severe emotional problems in the lives of internet users.
And in the case of fake news, I think it is also a way for people to hurt each other on the Internet. Some bad news organizations may use fake news to provoke a war between two countries and even lead people to misunderstand the two countries’ relationship. As an Asian, I can often see foreign reports that provide misinformation about Asia. And in some Asian news, I can see that they are avoiding mentioning developments in the United States and focusing on the United States’ wrong moves. However, not everyone in life has the opportunity to go to another country and learn about the situation as we do, so they rely heavily on the news to learn about what is going on in other countries. And this misinformation leads to misunderstandings about foreign countries and even creates conflicts between races. Because there have been so many cases of harm to Asians recently, I am incredibly uncomfortable with news that causes misunderstandings about Asia. I think we should learn more about other cultures through more appropriate ways and avoid using violence in our lives to deepen misunderstandings.
In my personal experience, after using the Internet for a long time, I realized that it is difficult to rationalize with these people who want to start a fight. Because these people’s goal is to get pleasure from watching others’ emotional outbursts, we cannot simply use logic to communicate with them. For example, I followed a video creator who had cancer, and she continued to inspire people by showing her resistance to life through her videos. Yet many people abused her, thinking she was faking her illness to gain attention. Others attacked her for being an Asian living in the United States and even asked her to die. As a result of these people’s incitement, more and more people began to question the girl’s true intentions. This made things worse for her at one point. And when she passed away, these people started to celebrate, showing no compassion for this girl during the whole process. This made me feel very sad. And yet, we can’t find these people who are hurting people, and we can’t determine that they have violated the law. So I think we have a long way to go in defending ourselves against internet trolls, and the most effective way to do that is to educate the next generation directly and curb the idea of hurting people at the source.
