Op-Ed: It’s The Truth! How Do I Know? I saw it on Whatsapp…..
by CrownHeights.info Editor
In my past years as editor of CrownHeights.info, I have many times been tempted to publish an Editorial on relevant topics. Whether in righteous anger, passion, or disgust, I have always decided to allow the conversation to pave it’s own path, without my personal opinion.
This time though, it’s different.
This time, two people and their families were smeared, gossiped, then slaughtered on the alter of public opinion. Two different stories, two different states, but the outcome was the same.
It happened in a matter of hours. A message was sent on social media, which was forwarded, then added to, until just minutes later, what had begun as a rumor had morphed into fact. Information was distorted, the facts bent, and in the mind of the people, two men, fathers and husbands both, were relegated as molesters fit to be humiliated and banished from the Jewish community.
As an editor whose primary job it is to vet the news, sifting the fact from the fiction, the story was clear. In both cases, the allegations were not of actual abuse, rather improper conduct worthy of investigation. In both cases, third party investigators were doing their job, attempting to discover the truth of what had actually gone on. In both cases, after thorough investigations, those accused were found to be innocent, completely innocent.
But the damage was already done.
Angry WhatsApp voice notes, claims of “I always believed”, and half true stories forwarded for the sixth time will never disappear, and the impression they left on a their audiences brain is permanent. Now, there will always be rumors, like a miasma, that will haunt these families forever.
In peoples excited haste to spread the latest gossip, they have forever tarnished the names of two people and their families, leaving an undeserved stain on their lives and their children’s lives.
Those that read, listened, and forwarded these messages were not malicious, they were not intent on hurting people, rather they felt that they were doing the right thing by letting people know, protecting them in a fashion.
With the ability to communicate and broadcast our voice over social media so widely, we must understand that each and every one of us has become a journalist, able to sway the minds of others with what we say and post. Along with the ability to broadcast comes the responsibility to be extra sure that what we are posting is the absolute truth, and not to even infer something that is not true.
In the age of social media, the lines of truth and lies are so blurred, that in many cases people feel that they will never know, and prefer to just be cautious just in case, regardless of the harm to others. Honestly, I don’t blame them.
In both the Torah and U.S. law, a person is deemed innocent until proven guilty, and there is good reason for that. Social media should not change that.
I implore everyone to think twice before forwarding the next piece of juicy gossip. Unless you have spent exhaustive hours investigating it, it’s just a rumor. Now that it has reached you, let it stay there.
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