The idea for Don’t Believe Everything That You Meme first came about in late 2017 when we were chatting about one meme or another and we started discussing the possible intent behind it.
The Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election were behind us, the evidence of election rigging and propaganda from the likes of the Russian Internet Research Agency and the British firm Cambridge Analytica were making waves in the news. Through our discussions, we found that the dubious meme falls into seven different categories.
- Traditional Tabloids
- Hoaxes for the sake of trolling those with opposing views
- Trolling that turns into a profitable website (aka Click Bait)
- Satire
- Urban Legends/Conspiracy Theory
- Opinions reported as fact
- Zombie News, or Old News That Isn’t News Anymore But Keeps Coming Back and Will Not Die
We have written and lectured quite a bit on these subjects and the podcast we are working on aims to be an entertaining and personal look into fake news, how to identify it, what we can do about it, and how we can educate others through reason and empathy.
We will have more to come!
Don't Believe Everything That You Meme 