Fake News
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Exodus 23:1
As a youth growing up around cousins in a small town, we often make jokes or create stories just to get a laugh. Sometimes these stories went too far. I remember one special setting at the ball park when a story about my mama crossed the line, immediately an altercation occurs between the person telling the story and me. It took a while to recover our friendship after that fight. Even though we all knew the story was false, but his negative comments about my mama (who was also his aunt) caused me to react negatively. At that time, certain words were considered fighting words irrespective of who said them. Unfortunately, with the rise of social media, we see people spreading misinformation just to see if it goes viral. We use the turn Fake News to categorize certain misinformation to manipulate the facts to verify what happened from different perceptions. There are times when intentionally misinformation or false stories can fuel opposition to a group of privileged individuals or a group of less privileged individuals. Many times the creator of the false information only wants to achieve personal gains like winning a political office. Yet, Moses was given instructions in Exodus 23 to prevent false information from spreading into Fake News.
According to Center for Information Technology & Society, they define Fake News as news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false - designed to manipulate people’s perceptions of real facts, events, and statements. (https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/what-is-fake-news) Nevertheless, Scripture warns the believer to avoid spreading Fake News. Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Exodus 23:1 This type of prohibition alleviates impartial justice. Remember, God’s people must replicate Godly behavior so God wanted His people to deal with others honestly and fairly. Making up stories for the sake of looking better than others has a counter effect because it limits the horizons of others. For instance, if one’s television remains on one news channel all the time, the person will become limited in verbalizing only one viewpoint on a given subject instead of understanding all factors that contribute to a given situation like a horrific shooting at an elementary school. Remember the movie, The Water Boy starting Adam Sandler as Bobby Boucher. Bobby was raised by an overprotected mother who always answered her son’s questions with very limited facts or knowledge on the subject matter. Later, Bobby became embarrassed in a college classroom when he repeated an answer to a question from his mother's prospective. The Professor asked, why alligators are abnormally aggressive? Bobby stood up and answered without hesitation, “mama said that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth but no toothbrush.” Of course, his reply caused laughter while the professor humiliated him. Like Bobby whose knowledge on the subject of alligators was limited to his mother’s opinion, we must avoid limited our knowledge base leading to Fake News. Thus, believers are prohibited from spreading untruths, repeating false reports, or interacting with individuals who promote false and misleading information.
The social media platform is amazing and beneficial in promoting various trending topics. Even though, we are living in an age of easily access to information, as believers we must practice a holy character and Godly standards. Remember God called His people to live above the national norms, as stated in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
In fact, one of the most difficult challenges facing believers in America is to correct injustice and to act justly despite the urging of others to do otherwise. Our news media constantly remind us about social injustice as people cry out for help from being victimized such as black-on-black violence, police brutality, LGBTQ abuse, hate crimes, etc. Yet, the Scripture reminds us that it is our duty, as individuals, to conduct ourselves in a just manner toward everyone. Regardless of whether the person is a friend, an enemy, an illegal alien, or a person from different gender, ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation, a true believer must treat others with kindness and love.
Lady Justice is blind to partiality and favoritism.