Mark Twain once said, “A lie will make it around the world before the truth puts its shoes on.” 

Perhaps he foresaw that his quote would apply to future methods of communication, because Twain’s words couldn’t be truer in today’s social media landscape where the firehose of lies shower the world every nanosecond and conspiracy is the hottest commodity. 

Internet trolls lurk in cyberspace slumming at every opportunity and getting their jollies by shamelessly lying to bait clicks, likes and shares. And why not? Facts are boring and the currency of juicy gossip can actually turn into real money. 

The lines are so blurred that we can’t discern fact from fiction. According to Tik Tok, thousands of Gen Z’ers believe that Helen Keller is a myth. Helen Keller?! Sorry, but opinions aren’t facts and the daily gaslighting is exhausting.

Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the truth. I like rules and playing fair and trying to get my facts straight. Once I messed up someone’s name for a story and when it went to print I was so mortified I didn’t sleep for a week. 

My Uncle Jack set the tone for my love of facts and respect for the truth. He was one of those old-school journalists who wrote his notes on a long yellow legal pad and chased down sources, fact-checked one source with another source, then re-checked spellings and dates, all without the convenience of search engines or AI. No plagiarism or laziness; just a phone book, landline and the desire to get it “right.” And no bias. At age 84, he’s still so steadfastly neutral that I have no idea where he stands politically. 

Lucky for him, he spends most of his time leading kayak tours around South Carolina and has zero interest in social media. And as much as I try and stick to just videos of baby animals hugging, the tentacles of the dark web are everywhere and I can’t ignore it. I wish we could at least try to combat the lies with some critical thinking.

In my fantasy world, we could at least require that basic reasoning and media literacy be taught in school. 

I’d much rather be an Uncle Jack kayaking on a beautiful river than some shameless internet troll with a few extra clicks.