I FOUND IT ON GOOGLE! IT MUST BE TRUE.

   In a recent post about the "to vaccinate or not to vaccinate" debate, I stated that I had Googled the issue. Since then I have had a few conversations that gave me a new perspective on a range of social issues today. It was when I spoke with real people that I realized there are very different ways we look at the world depending on when we grew up. Not everyone uses the same methods to determine what is true.
Some people have never developed the skills required to recognize when something doesn't add up. Even more believe that the "underground" sources are the only way to get the truth out of the internet. "They" control everything else and only tell us only what they want us to know. (Never have been able to get anyone to tell me who "they" are.)

   It should be pointed out that when I first took an interest in writing, I was stymied by my lackluster talent on a typewriter. I would actually write on paper, with a pen, then give the sheaves of paper to someone that had experience pounding on an Underwood to convert the scratch into text. Obviously when I wanted to research something I would spend hours at a table in a library with a pile of books. The ability to pull the relevant information from a building full of books required some actual skill. When researching something based in science it was important to stick with trusted science journals and reputable publications. It was pretty easy to tell the difference between fact and fiction when chasing details.

   My kids, on the other hand, had no idea how to find anything in the library, except the librarian. If you needed to produce a report, all that was required was to type your question into a search box on Yahoo or Google and you could become an expert in the span of one study block. The only way to separate the sources from each other was the quality of the websites. "This looks like a good site, Dad, they have a ton of links to everything I need." At one time this would have been acceptable if you were doing a report on an historical event where the facts hadn't changed much in a hundred years. Today, however, we have a whole generation that has grown up getting their information from the internet and even contributing to the historical record through the proliferation of forums on every conceivable subject. The information that is being presented is becoming ever more suspect. Aggravating this is the way search engines work. The more entertaining or controversial a website is the more hits it likely gets. Most search engines not only present choices based on relevance but also by popularity. The most popular choice is not necessarily the most reliable.

  Just for fun, I started researching some of the more significant events in US history. Being a Canadian, I had never really studied the US Civil War. Looked like a good place to start. I started by reading some simple explanations from Wikipedia then followed a few links to some of the sources. I waded into the forums on a number of 'history' websites. After the first twenty minutes, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what the two sides were fighting about and how it all began. As I went deeper and spent a little more time, I started to get the impression that nobody has a clue. Something to do with Lincoln and slavery were about the only things that most sites could agree on. Reading the comments offered by some of the self proclaimed experts left me in tears. About the most uneducated babble I have read about on any subject was being offered as authoritative. On one forum some grade nine student was trying to do a report on Gettysburg and had asked how the battle developed at that location. An 'expert' began describing an attack by British soldiers on Washington. What?? I am not an expert on US history but I am pretty sure that was a different war. This was an isolated incident for sure, but the theme of my wasted evening with a 'good Google' was that depending on the outcome you are after, I am pretty sure you can find some 'research' on the internet that will back up your hypothesis.

  A society that has become accustomed to Google as being the definitive source for all thing mysterious, is losing the ability to discern fact from fantasy. If you jump onto the internet to learn how to wire a three way light switch, you better have a pretty good understanding of how electricity works in first place. If all you know is that you can turn on the light from either end of the hallway, then all you really need to know about wiring one up is the phone number of your local electrician. Just because there is a "How To" on Yahoo doesn't mean the instructions are complete. There is no guarantee it is even right. Are you really ready to start cutting wires? Any time we develop an interest in something, especially something we are passionate about, we need to actually educate ourselves about it. That does not mean five minutes on the website that Elwood, down the road, suggested we go to. Take some time to corroborate any information offered. Just because "It Is Written!" does not mean it is true. Sometimes bits and pieces of information can be far more misleading than we think possible. If the research you are doing is going to be the basis for making a decision, it would be in your best interest to make damn sure that the information you are digesting is factual. The only outcome you can expect from making decisions based on bad information is, bad. So the next time you are about to argue about something in a forum or offer some 'valuable' insight in the comments section on your favourite website, PLEASE do some real research. Check your facts and make sure that you have good information. This goes for planning a holiday in Syria, which can be really nice this time of year, or deciding to apply for that vaccination exemption your neighbour recommended. Do yourself, and the rest of us a favour, don't believe everything you read on the web. Duh!