Should We or Shouldn’t We Believe?

Let’s say you were told to search for some information, and you had to choose between using the internet and going to the library to do your research? Which one would you rely on? Some people may think that the library is old school and it’s easier and quicker to get answers online. However, do we really know if those internet sources are as reliable as they make themselves out to be? In society today, we are dealing with the democratization of knowledge, which is the process of decentralizing “truth” and “information.”

There use to be a time when people could only rely on the professionals who’s job it was to collect reliable and factual evidence for the questions that most of the human race had. Of course with great power like that comes a great responsibility to give the people the correct and valuable answers and solutions. But some of the stuff that was being put out into the world, most would say wasn’t true. Therefore, the greatness of the internet was created and then things like Wikipedia started popping up. And with Wikipedia, anybody can go in and change the facts on a topic or person.

So now, we have a society where people are in charge of what is true and what isn’t. Of course, there are pros and cons to just about everything and this is no different. Yes, it is great that people can now correct professionals when they publish something that may not hold much truth. But what about those people on the internet who would rather put out just false information? That is the type of thing I am worried about.

It’s just like I stated above that with great power comes a great responsibility. I feel like we still need the professionals to bring us the facts and show us what they have found after years and years of research. And the reporters who have done some digging to get the inside scoop. The people should still get a chance to speak on topics that they have personally experienced, but I don’t think that they should be able to go in and alter the information about celebrities (which people love to do on Wikipedia). And when it comes to blogs, I think people should stick to topics that they know best. In general, I say that everyone should stay in their lane when it comes to spreading information because one thing may not apply to everyone.

We have a lot of controversy on the web today because there are so many opinions going around that it is hard to get to the truth unless there’s hardcore evidence, such as video recordings, audio, or an actual reliable source. Once again, I’m not saying that democratization of knowledge is a bad thing, but there may need to be a limit to it.