Op-ed
On Wednesday, the Pope said fake news is “Satanic” and journalists and social media users should shun and unmask manipulative “snake tactics” that foment division to serve political and economic interests.
Sharing fake news makes people unwitting “accomplices in evil.” People have the responsibility to check the source, he continued.
All the is true but it’s too bad he didn’t also speak against censorship.
This was the Pope’s message for World Communion Day. The theme is ‘The truth will set you free.’ Fake news and journalism for peace.
The Pope’s message is very strong and his statements are well-taken. He’s right about fake news misleading, manipulating and hurting people.
Journalists won’t care what the Pope says, they’re hedonists, and most, in their very souls, think everyone on the right is fake news.
The effect in the United States of sifting out fake news would be more censorship by the very satanic types who fit the Pope’s description. In the United States, at most, this would be a cue for more fake news and more censorship from the very powerful far-left.
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He called for “education of truth” and compared the use of fake news to the Bible story of the devil, who, disguised as a serpent, persuaded Eve to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. He said she was given fake news.
“We need to unmask what could be called the ‘snake-tactics’ used by those (purveyors of fake news) who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place.”
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, a former reporter for U.S. outlets, told Reuters Television: “The Pope is not saying that all journalists are snakes but he is certainly acknowledging that they can be.”
The pope said the role of journalists was “not just a job, it is a mission” and they had particular responsibility to stem fake news.
“Amid feeding frenzies and the mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons.”
He’s right about all that, but it’s open to interpretation given his far-left views of what is evil.
The Pope has strong views on open immigration without limit and climate change. Is opposing that fake news? It can be hard to define.
Journalists and social media are shutting down and silencing traditional Americans, Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians in all public forums. The only ones who get to decide what is fake are powerful left-wing media and organizations.
The Pope appears to be a globalist, particularly as it concerns borders. He has called “intolerant”, the limiting of excessive immigration. Which brings us to this comment he made in his message:
“Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth,” Francis said.
“Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests,” the pope wrote, condemning the “manipulative use of social networks” and other forms of communication.
His comments come at a time when the U.S. left are promoting the fake narrative that fake news handed the election over to Donald Trump.
”This false but believable news is ‘captious’, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration,” Francis said.
Everything he said is correct but he too might unwittingly spreads fake news because he’s a socialist with a certain biased perspective. As a Catholic, I wish he had kept his far-left politics to himself because it makes it harder to hear his teachings.
Francis said journalism should be “less concentrated on breaking news than on exploring the underlying causes of conflicts …a journalism committed to pointing out alternatives to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence.”
It wouldn’t be news then, would it? They do that now and it’s all left-wing opinion. Almost every news item – 90% to be exact according to polls – is how Trump is destroying the world.
His point overall is correct. Everything should be checked and manipulation is very evil, but, on the other hand, no one has the one truth, all information goes through a person’s subjective opinion and it’s heard differently by those who hear it. Truth can even vary depending on one’s position in time and place. To have a system of some people deciding what is or isn’t fake news isn’t working here in the United States. It’s just censorship. Education in truth is a great idea but the far-left controls that too.
Each person has to be responsible as individuals and free speech is a precious right people should treat with care, never surrendering it for any reason.
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