In an age when technology gives us endless amounts of information at our fingertips, it has never been easier for humans to gather so much knowledge but also spread inaccurate information.
Being a journalist means bringing unbiased and fair news to people. We gather information, talk to our sources and present the accurate facts, quotes and events to the people and then let them decide how they want to interpret it. But, nowadays, the truth isn’t black and white anymore, as the truth can be subjective and interpreted differently.
It is hard to provide the truth to someone who denies visible facts and decides what their own truth is.
Misinformation and disinformation happen every day and come in all shapes and forms.
It could be as small as your tío reposting inaccurate information on Facebook, which might have some effect on who his friends are. Or it could be as large as former U.S. President Donald Trump claiming the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen. That claim had a large ripple effect, from election workers being harassed in Arizona and facing death threats to a violent attempt to overthrow the government.
This lie has catapulted this age of spreading misinformation and making the truth subjective.
Hundreds of Republican officeholders and primary winners have accepted this and other false claims as the truth.
A crusader of this movement is U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who has tweeted that COVID-19 vaccines cause deaths and that the Democratic Party is involved with Satanism. Greene is also among the handful of GOP officeholders who believed QAnon theories, but later said doing so is something she regrets.
QAnon is a conspiracy theory originating from posts on the website 4chan in October 2017, according to Britannica.com. The conspiracy theory is that Trump was waging a secret war against satanic cannibalistic pedophiles within Hollywood, the Democratic Party and the so-called “deep state” within the United States.
QAnon candidates are on ballots in 26 states, according to a GRID news series examining QAnon influence on American politics.
Watching all of these politicians and movements occur in other states and away from South Texas is one thing, but to have a local GOP candidate who engages in spreading misinformation is another.
The race for Texas Congressional District 15 between Democratic nominee Michelle Vallejo and Republican nominee Monica De La Cruz is reflective of the rise of misinformation and what the effects could be.
Running for a second time in District 15 in 2020, De La Cruz lost to former three-time incumbent Vicente Gonzalez by a vote of 155,605 to 109,017.
Following Trump’s lead in claiming voter fraud in local, state and national elections, De La Cruz claimed mail-in ballots in Hidalgo County opened opportunities for fraud.
Providing no proof of voter fraud in Hidalgo County, De La Cruz decided not to contest the election with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, stating that if she did contest, she did not expect a different result as the House is controlled by the Democratic Party, according to an article by Border Report.
From the nation’s capital all the way down to South Texas, misinformation and subjective truth is everywhere. The blurred lines between the truth and lies is an important factor in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.
Texas’ gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Democratic nominee Beto O’Rourke is an important state election regarding this issue.
Abbott has time and time again manufactured his own truth to Texas’ issues and problems, from the 2021 February freeze, which he blamed on renewable energy sources collapsing when fossil fuel sources were to blame, to the May 24 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, where in a news conference he blamed mass shootings on mental health despite cutting nearly $20 million in funding from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees health services.
Having people in elected positions in government, regardless of their political affiliation, who listen to reason and truth backed by facts should be essential to holding office.
When figures with the power to influence people, movements and legislation adhere to their own truths despite any fact against it, where do the lies stop? When do we actually get together to solve issues in society, such as poverty, gun violence and mental health, when we cannot fundamentally agree on what the truth is?
