We are living in strange times. Information travels faster than any other thing mankind has ever witnessed, yet not fast enough. It’s still no match to the speed of the greatest super villain of our times.
Probably, you are now wondering who is that super villain? Well, that villain is called “Misinformation”. It is a mutated form of information and possesses heightened levels of virality that lets it spread itself on an astronomically faster rates than its original form. But that’s not the only power it has. Remember Mystique from the movie X-men? She could shape shift into anyone she has ever seen and present herself to others in a most convincing way to achieve her goals. Misinformation also has the same kind of power. It can change herself into entirely something else and presents herself to others in a way that could resonate with them on multiple levels. But that’s not about it. Do you also remember Charles Xavier from the same series who could control other’s minds? A great hero indeed who has always upheld the morality and saved the world many times already but well, think of Magneto controlling him through Cerebro, making him controlling people and do things they otherwise would not do. This is exactly what ‘misinformation’ does to most people it reaches. It shape-shifts to become irresistible for them and once consumed, it gets into their mind and make them do all sort of things like mass-forwarding a seemingly convincing message, arguing on that with others, abusing them, breaking up relationships to even more graver consequences.
Time after time, we also get to see this villain amplifying its destructive nature by taking over the conscience of entire groups and turning them into vicious mobs ready to lynch innocent bystanders to tricking whole nations into believing plain lies and getting wrong people elevated to power circles.
What we need is not a mighty super hero to save us all but to act hero in our own capacity. Chance, intellect or hard-work can get anyone a super power i.e., an unfair advantage over others but their choice of using that super power, that unfair advantage to give back to the community is the only thing that makes one a true hero.
There is so much misery and unrest already created by the misinformation. It’s about the time that we bring that HERO out who could say NO to the ever increasing influence of misinformation. Who could take a stand against its spread. Who would know how to deal with this information overload we face on the daily basis, who could start thinking more critically, who could control their urge to ‘forward’ a forwarded message as it is, and finally who could make others in their circle understand all of the dangers posed by this villain and help learn how to bring their own HERO out.
Fact Hero is an effort to start that behavioral change on a grass root level. It will provide a fun way to learn & share skills that are needed to combat misinformation, the greatest villain of our times, and the best part is, you do not need to put on any cape or wear your underwear on the outside. (Yet you may have to put on a mask occasionally till we figure out an authentic solution to all COVID19 related problems.)
So what are you waiting for, see how can you help yourself bring out the Hero in YOU!
Let’s Go, we got to save the world, one fact at a time!