The internet is full of lies about Gaza — and a different kind of truth

  • 📰 washingtonpost
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 62 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 72%

Technology Technology Headlines News

Technology Technology Latest News,Technology Technology Headlines

Beyond the nitty-gritty facts, social media can show us how people experience war.

A girl carries blankets as she walks past the site of a deadly explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, on Oct. 18. after agents of the state harassed him, humiliated him and prevented him from selling his wares. His desperate act spread across the web and the world. The Arab Spring had begun. All over the globe, people flocked to social media as a source of on-the-ground truth.Now, almost the opposite seems true.

What happened? The popular answer is that in the past decade, Silicon Valley’s most prominent platforms have turned from oases into cesspools. As a result, the way we look at these sites has changed, too.Once upon a time, we believed that social media would deliver the small-t truth: the nitty-gritty facts of any given situation. This wasn’t always wise. Thein 2011 were effectively live-streamed to the world with participant commentary.

But especially in moments of crisis, amid the fog of war, much of the time, small-t truth isn’t what we’re going to get. What we will almost always find instead is messier: an angle on the world not as it literally is but as people feelThis state of affairs is admittedly unfortunate for clearing up controversies or rebuilding a shared reality. The upside is that the sort of emotional and moral big-T Truth that the internetbroadcast around the world could go some way toward building more empathy.

Bouazizi, the man on fire in Tunisia, was initially said to be a college graduate reduced to selling fruit and then robbed of that, too. Eventually,that he hadn’t gone to college and might not have finished high school. Does it matter? He still set himself aflame.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 95. in TECHNOLOGY

Technology Technology Latest News, Technology Technology Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Israel-Gaza live updates: Internet partially restored in Gaza; ‘second stage’ of war underway, Netanyahu saysAs Israeli forces push into Gaza, the country’s officials would not definitely say whether the anticipated major ground incursion had begun.
Source: washingtonpost - 🏆 95. / 72 Read more »

Israel-Gaza war live updates: U.S. negotiated internet restoration and more aid to Gaza, officials sayWashington pressured Israel to restore communications in the Gaza Strip as it expanded its ground and air assault, senior U.S. officials told The Post.
Source: washingtonpost - 🏆 95. / 72 Read more »