This is the age of infinite knowledge. There are thousands upon thousands of resources literally at your fingertips. There isn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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\u2019s more than likely super ignorant. (I\u2019m 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\u2019t do with ignorant opinions, sports-related or otherwise? Post them on social media.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong, my social media presence isn\u2019t 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\u2019t come across in print as well as it does in person – It probably doesn\u2019t 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 \u201cnews stories\u201d from the most untrustworthy of websites.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to publicly take a side on any type of internet debate, make sure you\u2019re coming prepared. Do not bring \u201cstatistics\u201d from a biased web forum that can\u2019t be found anywhere on an even kind of trustworthy source\u00a0to the table.<\/p>\n
As for current events: I\u2019m a supporter of all things feminist, but saying \u201cDo you have a vagina? Are you paid less than men? Then, my friend, you are a woman,\u201d isn\u2019t feminism, its transphobic (I\u2019m looking at you, Alice Eve<\/a>). If you\u2019re going to come to the internet with your negative opinions on Bruce Jenner\u2019s transition, get a leg up on transgender issues.<\/p>\n And of course, I can\u2019t leave out this week\u2019s biggest headline: the Baltimore riots. The amount of (sometimes intentional, sometimes not) racist things I\u2019ve seen posted on the internet this week has blown my mind. Most of these statements \u201cbacked up\u201d by a listicle or otherwise untrustworthy source. Whether you agree with riots or not, \u201chow 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\u201d is NEVER an acceptable comment to make. That was really a comment I saw. Really.<\/p>\n 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\u2019re getting warmer.<\/p>\n