The times of "Woke" and "Fake"

With the advancement of technology, the differentiating lines between virtual and that which is real have been blurred to invisibility. This revolution is not old, in fact, we are living in an age where the segments of generations can be divided on the basis of their accessibility and routine consumption of social media. If you're a millennial, there is a huge possibility that your parents might know nothing about a whole job industry that is growing rapidly- social media influencers.  (More than 500,000 people on Instagram identify themselves as social media influencers and get paid for their online activity.)

The Woke People

The advent of capitalism and free market trade championed the cause of individual freedom. CEOs sitting comfortably in their multi-dollar corporate offices understand the value of an online review coming from their customer based out of a remote rural location. It would be highly exaggerated to say that due to the vast oceans of information available, everyone is informed now but it would be a fairly rational observation to make that at least a majority of us do have the means to stay informed now. This swiftness with which information is transferred these days and the different forms of 'easy-to-digest' content bites that are available in its abundance have led people from all stratum of society to feel empowered. We have the liberty of judgement, analysis, investigation, verification, options and the power to make decisions because we have the ultimate tool of information at our disposal. From the policies formulated by Trump to the secret service missions of Russia (well, you also have the liberty to draw co-relations between the two), everything is discussed online. In my opinion, nothing would be more appropriate to address the internet generation in their own lingua franca, as they like to call themselves the "Woke People". 

It is hard to deny that the intermingling of our real and virtual lives has bred anxiety, confusion and heavily impacted our mental health with everyday of our life inching towards looking like an episode from The Black Mirror. However, the internet has indubitably given a potential tool of revolution to the masses by empowering them with not only easily accessible information but also the close knitted community that people form online. Major movements regarding mental health awareness (Men's mental health awareness campaign by Heads Up-Heads Together in 2019), sexual harrasment (#MeToo Movement), racial discrimination (#BlackLivesMatterMovement) etc transcended the online boundaries and culminated into real-life revolutions that sparked conversations to bring change. This has been a major win for the online community, the internet and the Woke Generation.

Living in the world of Fake News

However, the same abundance of information and the limitless accessibility has led to the development of a dark online world. This world stands on the pillars of virtual propaganda, fake news, online crime and a lot of which still evades the knowledge of the masses in the form of dark web. The presence of such ill-elements in the virtual world leads to the birth of confusion and distrust, not only towards the internet but also towards those who believe in the power of the same. The entire concept of a community and its drive to bring change through the medium of internet is dismantled when the legitimacy of the content that makes this community and the internet stands as questionable. When a journalist poses a query to Trump, he can simply discredit its legitimacy by calling out "Fake News" because the need of providing an explanation is omitted as soon as the source of the query is painted dubious. This is disastrous. As regimes head towards an increasingly covert and furtive functioning, the only open and diverse platform available for free discussion between the people is the internet. Thus, questioning the legitimacy of the products of this internet leads to an absolute defeat of every asset that it boasts of.

 

Conflict

This constant debate between that authenticity of what we see on the internet fosters an internal conflict. The consumer is forced to investigate the truth behind what she is seeing on the screen before she creates an opinion about it. Furthermore, it becomes even a bigger task to bring eyeballs to the issues that need mass support because now, before hitting that share button or retweeting that tweet, the consumer will be held accountable for the veracity of the information she is peddling. It is definitely great to strive for accountability as far as the primary sources of generation of such content are concerned but the core of mass support strengthens from the fact that not each and every individual who is a part of the mass has investigated the truth of the matter. As unfortunate as this seems, the truth is that it is practically impossible for a single individual to filter out everything that the internet feeds her into "real" and "fake". Most of the people choose their reliable sources of information and place their trust with such channels. However, anybody can make mistakes. Living in the times of "Woke" and "Fake", such mistakes can result in anything from gruesome killings (lynching of people due to fake online rumours of beef eating) to being robbed (mass donations to virtual campaigns that turn out to be fake.)

So what should we do?

As responsible and educated citizens, we are duty bound to at least attempt to check the accuracy of the news/appeals/images that we share. Those who have suffered badly at the hands of such fake news attacks advocate strict punishments for the people who feel it is okay to lie on the internet. Though I do not support the idea of punishing such liars because strict punishments will only result as another obstruction to free speech by implanting fear in the minds of those who wish to articulate their opinions but repeat offenders who strategize full-fledged campaigns of lies and deception must be counseled and their online activity should be limited with constant vigil.

The Woke Generation that believes in the power of the internet is running business online, devising campaigns, educating and bringing revolutionary changes through online means. It is imperative to ensure that they are not discouraged and the ultimate invention of human brain is used to champion the truth and only the truth.