From 92de1bc3f35ac60aa023f5ffcd5abab649d33c7b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muhammad Nauman Raza Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2024 23:01:33 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] docs: new document hoaxes-overview.typ --- blog/hoaxes-overview.typ | 63 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/hoaxes-overview.typ diff --git a/blog/hoaxes-overview.typ b/blog/hoaxes-overview.typ new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2735af3 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/hoaxes-overview.typ @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +#show link: underline +#set text( + font: "ETBembo", + size: 10pt) +#set page( + paper: "a4", + margin: 1cm, +) +#set par( + justify: true, + leading: 0.52em, +) + +#align(center, text(20pt)[ + *An overview on hoaxes* +]) + += Introduction +In recent times, hoaxes have become increasingly prevalent as the +internet continues to expand and as more people use social media. +Misinformation is on a rise - though this is information which isn’t +really new, the current state of things is horrible, and things really +shouldn’t be the way they are. + +I aim for this to be a brief blog post detailing the effect of hoaxes on +society, focusing on why they’re so harmful. + += What exactly is a hoax? +Put simply, a hoax is made-up information, be it a story or something +else. Hoaxes are created with the intent of spreading false information - for a immense variety of reasons, from jokes and causing embarrassment +to provoking politic or social change #footnote[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoax]. I won’t discuss +the causes of hoaxes further in this blog post. + += The effect of hoaxes +Hoaxes can cause significant damage to their targets if formulated +cleverly. For example: + +#quote(block: true, attribution: "from the Wikipedia 4chan page")[ +The stock price of Apple Inc.~fell significantly in October 2008 after a +hoax story was submitted to CNN’s user-generated news site iReport.com +claiming that company CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a major heart attack. +The source of the story was traced back to 4chan. +] + +With the incredible presence of social media in our lives, spreading +harmful misinformation like that above can be as simple as making a few +posts - they don’t even need to be very convincing! What makes matters +worse is how gullible the general population is, even those educated in +this sort of thing - this shows #emph[just] how much influence the +internet and it’s contents have on us. + +I would like to clarify that I’m not suggesting that people should avoid +using the internet to gather information - while its reliability is +incredibly questionable, the accessibility and openness it provides far +beats traditional methods of gathering information \(books and such). My +suggestion is that people should be much more careful with how they +interpret information on the internet, and perform their due diligence +in their research into whatever they’re aiming to learn; #strong[people +should make sure that what they’re reading is accurate before absorbing +any information] \(here’s your tl;dr). + +That’s about it for this blog post, as it was meant to be a brief way of +expressing my thoughts on the matter. Thanks for reading!