if I asked very nicely would you all be willing to take a one minute anonymous survey for my linguistics class. if the answer is yes, please click here. thanks :)

(sharing for a better response size would also be very appreciated)

i saw a post today where someone stated that they often can't tell real information from misinformation online. i am not here to make fun of that person. that being said, the ability to figure out if information is real or not is a critical skill for everyone who uses the internet. you need to be able to do that on your own. it's great if you can get help or if people will tell you what's real and what's not, but you also need to be able to do it by yourself. simple, easy tips under the cut.

the most common style of misinformation i see on tumblr is the fake news headline. it's an image or multiple images of a headline and sometimes an attached story. easy tips to discovering whether this is real or not:

is there a link in the post? click it and see where it goes. no link? possibly fake, possibly the poster just didn't include it.

google the full headline, not just key words. even better, google the headline with the full headline in quotes so you get exact matches. can't find a match? probably fake.

is there a clear url/website attached to the headline? if so, go to the website and search for the headline. can't find a match? probably fake.

is there an author? google them. see if they're real. see if the subject of the article matches the stuff they usually write about. see if they have social media where they may have posted the headline. can't find an author, or they seem way off-track? probably fake.

if it's an image of a tweet, look up the person's twitter handle. can't find the tweet? possibly fake. it could also be a real tweet with the text or date edited.

is there a date? a story written in 2002 may have very different ramifications than a story written in 2022. it depends on the subject, but some subjects change rapidly and even a 5-year-old story may be out of date. see if you can find anything recent. if not, it may be fake or out of context.

go to google news and do a quick scan. this is going to work better for headlines that are about world news, but it's still worth a try. google news also allows you to search stories and limit by date. see if you can find a matching headline. if you can't, it may be fake or old news.

general tips:

don't trust social media. just don't. please. people can and will say literally anything they want. anything you read on social media that has real-world implications, you should fact-check.

you may think it's overkill, but google everything. even things you're mostly sure of. reading more headlines and more news can help you get better at discerning between real and fake headlines.

every source of information is biased in some way. try to seek out less biased sources. look up the bias media chart (here's a link) and use it to find sources that do less biased and more original reporting.

think about bias as you're reading. who is the author writing for? why are they writing? what do they want the audience to feel? what facts are they choosing to include or omit? how might the presentation of the facts change if someone with a different perspective was writing?

there are also websites dedicated to fact-checking. this works best for major world news, but try snopes or factcheck. the rand corporation has a huge list of tools for rooting out disinformation as well.

there's nothing wrong with asking for help, but if you genuinely cannot figure out if something is real or not on your own, and you give up trying to figure it out without help, you run the risk of believing and even spreading misinformation. some misinformation is essentially harmless (a celebrity's favorite color, for example). some misinformation is incredibly dangerous. please please PLEASE check your facts. it is quick and easy and worth it.

if you need more help, let me know.

Tell me i'm wrong...

conman priest scar accidentally finding out the religion is real bc he makes out with god in a confessional

Fandom Gripe #23: I know that fandom is in some deep denial about its treatment of female characters that are canonically involved with fan favorite m/m ships, but do y’all realize that when you disappear female characters from the narrative wholesale to push the idea that your canonically straight fav was “secretly gay all along!” you’re making several bad implications? That 1) bi men don’t exist, 2) bi men do exist, but those who have genuinely loved a woman before cannot genuinely love a man after that (therefore bi men don’t exist in practice), 3) women cannot inspire genuine love and devotion in men, therefore any relationship with a woman is “lesser” than the one they later have a man (see previous parenthesis), or 4) to acknowledge the existence of a lovable woman who isn’t a terrible person, where if a relationship previously existed, it did not end because of “incompatibility,” is enough to destabilize the present relationship between two queer men?

Because why is the tgcf fandom allergic to acknowledging that He Xuan had a whole ass fiancée that he loved? Why does no one ever seem to remember that the kidnappings and murders of He Xuan’s sister and fiancée were the final straws that sent him on his rampage, and he still keeps a shrine to them in the present-day of the story? Why is her entire existence and significance to He Xuan as a man, character, and to his character arc disappeared in favor of pushing Shi Qingxuan—the brother of the man responsible for his fiancée’s death—into that same role, as if to say that her impact on He Xuan is significant... just not when it's from her? Why does He Xuan’s life in fandom essentially begin not just after her death but because of it?

will canonly calls nico “babe” how am i supposed to feel about that

He’s fine guys don’t worry💪

Rip eddie munson you would have loved system of a dooown- post canceled had a vision of a middle aged eddie with a grey poneytale at the back of the metal show drinking a watered down beer wearing his battle vest with so many more patches on it because he lived to see so many more shows and now I'm gonna cry.

I love all the Rockstar eddie stuff but what if he was just that metal head dad that makes you listen to dio and black sabbath and he plays in a cover band on the weekends? what then? What if he gets to live a slow sweet life that makes him happy? What if he travels around the country with Steve and six little nuggets? What then????

PLOVERFUR AND BERRYBOUNCE!! Our two newest warriors! And Berrybounce getting a temper oh no- Poor Caterpillarpaw taking another L

Also Auburnkit?? Girl???

Moon 0 

Moon 26.2 - Moon 28

no but actually... why were there mockingjays in the arena during the hunger games? snow beefed with those useless captiol mutts so hard but somehow they were a part of the games?? why did he put them in there???

I saw people talking about that scene where Yassen shot Max as a huge betrayal of Alex and it's kinda funny to me like yeah he involved Alex in a murder but also I cannot emphasise enough that Alex decided to join a criminal organisation. People have been telling him he'll need to kill for days now, Alex has watched them kill multiple people already, I get that it sucks for him but you cannot team up with a known killer and be that shocked when actually his secret extra mission was to kill

“Right then. You lot,” Martyn says to the people still sitting in the audience. “The orchestra’s got to warm up sometime. I’ve got to go backstage. I can’t entertain you forever. Frankly, don’t know how I’m entertaining you now, I’m just sitting here, but—”

He sighs. He shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter, does it? Right then. Before I have to go backstage and become—well, you know. Might as well ask some questions.”

He looks off to the side.

“I’ve always wondered what you get out of this,” he mutters. “Why you lot are so obsessed with seeing the same tragedy play out over and over again. Want to give me an answer then? Call and response. Don’t worry, I’ll hear.”

danny wormton has a very important question to ask all of you, lineart courtesy of @mysteryhat21art, and colored for @green-with-envy-phandom-event!

So does anyone think that something happened where Jake took a moment and thought "Huh. I should teach my kids CPR"?

I mean, Neteyam recognized that Kiri had a seizure and then proceeded to perform CPR (not exactly the right way since it was just mouth-to-mouth, but a form of it, nevertheless. My baby did his best and it worked).

Firstly, he knew what a seizure was, so was that something he learned from Jake, or is that common knowledge among Na'vi and they just have a different word for it? Do Na'vi know CPR or is it something they learned from the Sky People? Idk it just seems like a human thing. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Metkayina have a form of it since their entire life revolves around water.

Going back to my initial question, do you think something happened that led to Jake teaching his kids (or at least Neteyam) how to perform CPR? Did one of the kids choke when they were little? Did Kiri have seizures before?

Jim, I have questions.

literally or metaphorically - you decide

so in universe do cal and andre have "gay secret that made them kill" style tabloid articles written about them.