Pg 66 response

A while back on Facebook a friend posted a link to news site claiming several kindergartners in Texas had tested positive for Ebola after sharing a classroom with an exchange student from Liberia; the picture that accompanied the "news" was one of assumed parents looking on in devastation and shock. As I scrolled through my  FB wall I had to stop and at least look over the part of the article that was bing displayed. Thinking that someone would make something like this is incredibly disturbing which adds the belief that it couldn't possibly be fictitious; targeting small children with a deadly virus is going to pull at the heartstrings of many people. This and other similar articles use fear-mongering tactics to get peoples attention. After doing a little of my own research (and only just a little) I found many other similar articles of "outbreaks" & the effects such claims had on people. In some cases parents pulled their children out of school out of fear of exposure, in other cases the articles would end in a push for some sort of anti-ebola medicines, vaccines, etc.

 This article and others like it disgust me. The only "appeal" this article had on me was how effective it was at instilling fear in people. Fear is an easy thing to sell, especially since it is such a huge motivation to taking action, no matter what that action may be. If I was in the business of fear, I would definitely continue to use the internet to sell my point, especially facebook. The comments on my friends post of the fictitious outbreak ranged from panic, to anger, and in a few cases people swearing to never leave their house. Only after her post had been up for several hours did someone finally post a link disclaiming the article, which leads me to believe that a lot of people will believe just about anything without looking into it at all. And with expansiveness of the internet whose to say what "news" organization is real or not. If a claim like this were to have occurred prior to the inter-webs era, the medium (newspaper, magazine, etc.), would surely either not have allowed it, due its incredibility, or would already be considered an unreliable source and may have reached the writers intended audience at all.