The Power of a Lie and the Cost of Believing It

 The worse things get in this country, the more I find myself fact-checking everything. Not just the big headlines, but even throwaway comments. And you know what I’ve discovered? Nine times out of ten, the shocking thing people are arguing about isn’t a statement that was ever actually said. It’s a headline spun out of a rumor. It’s a screen grab with no source. It’s a social media post written by one person who decided to stir the pot — and by the end of the day, that one post has been shared thousands of times. By the end of the week, millions believe it as fact.

Think about that for a minute. One person. One post. And suddenly, it becomes “truth” because enough people repeat it.

Take this as an example: imagine a woman singing a beautiful song on stage with her daughter — a moment that should be nothing but joy, art, and family. You click into the comments expecting love and encouragement. Instead, what you see is hate. Death threats. “RIP” messages tied to someone else’s tragedy. And all of it born out of something that never even happened. Just a rumor. Just one troll’s lie, amplified by a culture that thrives on outrage. This is nothing new. Think Emmet Till and torches and pitchforks. Its not new but its getting worse. If we had had social media decades ago I truly believe we would no longer be here or be reduced to a third world country.

This is what we’ve let ourselves become: a society that’s too quick to believe, too quick to share, and too slow to stop and ask, Is this even true?

We’ve got to do better.

We have to start thinking for ourselves instead of letting headlines and hashtags tell us what to feel. We have to stop treating strangers online like enemies just because somebody told us they were on “the other side.” Because the truth is, most of us want the same things: safety, love, health, hope for our kids. The things that matter most are not red or blue, right or left.

So here’s my wake-up call:
- Check the source.
- Ask yourself, “Do I actually know this is true?”
- Refuse to spread hate until you’ve seen proof with your own eyes. Then try to flip whatever it is into something we can learn from. Our children are watching!

Because if we don’t start questioning the noise, we’re going to lose sight of the music — those rare, beautiful moments when people come together in joy instead of tearing each other apart in anger.

Let’s choose the music. Let’s choose each other.