It’s hilarious that after the post-election upheaval, people are looking everywhere for something to blame, including fake news.  It’s been around forever though – propaganda for military operations as outlined in the ancient Chinese text, The Art of War, unbased information for advertising, satire of all kinds, and even delusional people trying to promote their philosophical ideas that we live in an inside-out world.  You can even read all about fake news and artifacts throughout history in this book for free.  But, the main-stream media is so proud of itself for ‘discovering’ it and how they will get to the root of this new-found evil!

We could not be happier! Regardless of the reasons more and more people are turning to alternative news sources or trying to expose them, it is “starting a conversation” or a nice way of saying, “You idiot, Uncle Bob! I’m right and you’re wrong because I know you are quoting fake news!” But poor Uncle Bob (names have been changed to protect the gullible) is suffering from a heavy case of confirmation bias. That combined with the near endless supply of information the internet provides, mixed with the ability to actually make money from writing tabloid-esque articles that present themselves as real is turning everyone into insufferable wisenheimers spouting fallacies as undeniable facts – because they “do their own research.”

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As researchers of so-called “fringe science”, we are utterly frustrated by having to constantly filter out the crap from the facts.  And, believe it or not, there actually are real facts out there about the paranormal – first-hand observations, samples and scientific test results, and articles that don’t necessarily make outlandish deductions but present their findings in scientific ways, prompting further research and perhaps posing theories, but clearly designating those as hypothesis not fact. It could be a theory that 57% of articles about the supernatural or advanced extra-terrestrial technology, or yet-to-be-discovered creatures are so wildly tangential and make such false claims that they are to blame for the continued marginalization of this frontier science. But, hey, they get to make money from it. And we all get to laugh at the crazy UFO believer on some sitcom.

Social Media has become littered with arguments and proclamations that invite even the sincerest researchers and investigators into their fancy websites and pages of interests! It’s become a business of how many hits and likes because the new generation behind us is not only tech savvy but reliant on this technology. It’s not just a popularity contest of influence and attention, these sites are crafted to generate money! And a lot of it! The more attention and hits, the more money. Truth-seekers are also under attack as we have witnessed in the field of Ufology for decades. Plant an interesting but untrue story on the internet and use this tool as one of the most effected pollutants of valid information. It’s a distraction and information control tactic and unfortunately, an effective plan.

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Maybe this exposure of fake news is a wake up call – a call to hold ourselves up to a higher standard in our fields. Heck – maybe it’s a call to create actual standards. Perhaps, now that the world is becoming aware that there is a difference between “fake” and “real” news, we need to justify why our news is “real”. We need to have more provable evidence, more open information. Not only putting forth the evidence that proves our theories, but admitting the evidence that could also disprove. The audience is getting smarter and we are slowly learning to filter out the obvious persuading articles because they sound too much like the promotional advertising articles that are sneakily placed between real articles.  We need to hold each other accountable and be willing to have others repeat our tests.  We should welcome debunkers, because only when a theory has honestly and thoroughly been through the ringer, will those results or that evidence be taken more seriously.

“When truth becomes irrelevant, especially in our field…we are doomed to fail and remain far behind any real effective confirmation or disclosure. It’s time we no longer tolerate those that spin reported events but instead expose them for the despicable act of deceptions. Why continue to promote those that fall short of honest and transparent work?” – Chase Kloetzke

That’s what we want, right? To be taken more seriously – for those things professors are afraid to research for fear of getting funding cut.  How do we do this? Read 8 Ways to Not Write Fake New about “Fringe Science” to find out.