This is the age of infinite knowledge. There are thousands upon thousands of resources literally at your fingertips. There isn’t any excuse to be misinformed, or unfamiliar, or ignorant to the happenings of the world if you take the time to read about them. Obviously, we can’t be knowledgeable on every subject. Unless something in the sports world was a big enough scandal in the sports world for it to make it off of ESPN, I probably know nothing about it. In the rare I have an opinion on a sports-related matter, it’s more than likely super ignorant. (I’m using the term as it was meant to be used, to mean misinformed. Not in the catty, condescending way that people tend to use it, especially on social media.) Do you know what I don’t do with ignorant opinions, sports-related or otherwise? Post them on social media.

Don’t get me wrong, my social media presence isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I love a good debate, as long as it stays respectful, and I have a self-deprecating sense of humor that probably doesn’t come across in print as well as it does in person – It probably doesn’t even come across well in person, honestly. But I digress. What really gets my goat as I scroll through my newsfeed, however, is the plethora of uneducated, misinformed, and downright annoying opinions and clickbait “news stories” from the most untrustworthy of websites.

If you’re going to publicly take a side on any type of internet debate, make sure you’re coming prepared. Do not bring “statistics” from a biased web forum that can’t be found anywhere on an even kind of trustworthy source to the table.

As for current events: I’m a supporter of all things feminist, but saying “Do you have a vagina? Are you paid less than men? Then, my friend, you are a woman,” isn’t feminism, its transphobic (I’m looking at you, Alice Eve). If you’re going to come to the internet with your negative opinions on Bruce Jenner’s transition, get a leg up on transgender issues.

And of course, I can’t leave out this week’s biggest headline: the Baltimore riots. The amount of (sometimes intentional, sometimes not) racist things I’ve seen posted on the internet this week has blown my mind. Most of these statements “backed up” by a listicle or otherwise untrustworthy source. Whether you agree with riots or not, “how many times have white people rioted when one of ours has been shot by police? None. And they want to be treated the same. Maybe they should act the same” is NEVER an acceptable comment to make. That was really a comment I saw. Really.

How do you know if the source of your information is trustworthy? Think back to your research report days. Would you have cited something from Vice for your term paper? Conservative Daily? Probably not. Maybe the New York Times? Even better, an academic article? Now we’re getting warmer.

In the midst of Rolling Stone’s UVA report scandal (pour one out for the hit journalism took that day) it’s even more important to really think about where you’re getting your news from before you blindly accept it as truth. Are there some situations that it’s acceptable to use a Buzzfeed article? Of course. But I’d like to be able to trust that we know when an argument requires some deeper digging.

Whether you’re a democrat, a republican or voting for Waka Flocka Flame; whether you’re gay, straight, a mix of both, or a little bit of neither; whatever race you are or whatever gender you identify as; try to get your facts straight if you’re going to attempt to gain an informed opinion and perspective. Your Facebook friends and your discussion partners/opponents will thank you.