Is this for real?

All of us have used the Internet at least once in our lives. Sites like YouTube, Google and The Onion have changed how we analyze what we are learning from the internet. We now need to build up immunity to fake information.

One occasion that it would have helped to notice whats real and whats fake. On September 13, 2006 a series of YouTube Blogs called Lonelygirl15 was found out to be fake. The series of videos fallowed a fictional girl named Bree who is 16 in her day to day video blog. After the truth about the show was discovered to be a fake the popularity had only increased(New York times). Two years after the show Lonelygirl15 was found out, the actress who played Bree (Jessica Rose) has had an extensive career with guest spots on a hit show Greek, one movie and a TV show is in the works.


Another example of falsified information is the news outlet known as The Onion. If you are not paying close enough attention to what you were hearing, you might be fooled. My younger sister had fallen for one of there fake stories last year when my Dad thought he was being funny by showing her the episode where the "News casters" are talking about parents sending there children to India in cardboard boxes. They gave the reason to be because the price of child care is cheaper in India according to them. The next day in her History class the teacher asked if anyone knew of any current events, my younger sister tells her entire class the story that she had heard from The Onion. The moral of the story is, though every picture may be worth a thousand words make sure you have some evidence to back it up.