We live in an age where false information is more harmful than ever. On top of a global pandemic, the world has been struck with the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has been growing larger and larger. While it has not expanded to a global scale, the war has been rightfully kept under close eye by many American citizens. With a greater reliance on technology to obtain news than ever before, it is clear to see how damaging fake news regarding this topic can be.
An article from The Guardian titled "'Dumb and Lazy': the flawed films of Ukrainian 'attacks' made by Russia's 'fake factory'" covers a video released by a Russian TV station. The video depicts a Ukrainian man severely wounding a Russian soldier. The video is accompanied with a story explaining that the assailant was intending to bomb a chlorine plant. While this video could appear extremely frightening to the average viewer, it turns out that "It was entirely fake" (The Guardian paragraph 4).
While fake news is often unavoidable, it is extremely crucial for us to try and familiarize ourselves with it. Whether we like it or not, there are people out there who will push false information purely to cause chaos and unrest. In the case of this story, the intent of the publisher was likely to instill a negative image of Ukrainian people in the minds of every viewer. Whether one sides with Ukraine or not, this video is giving people false information that may contribute to a generalized and wrong idea of what Ukrainian people are like. We are already in the middle of one pandemic, but the unstoppable and chaotic spread of fake news may just plunge us into another.
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