If you saw “breaking news” that Christian artist Brandon Lake was suspended from all artistic activities in New York City for two years, I’m here to tell you that you got fooled by what some are calling “social media slop.”
Fake news is running rampant on social media right now. Either you are fully aware of that (since you are trying to keep your parents from falling for it) or you are the one that’s being fooled. Feels like as good a time as any to throw this legendary George W. Bush quote out, because it’s certainly applicable in the modern times:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me, you can’t get fooled again.”
He absolutely nailed that old saying.
What’s funny is that everyone know that’s not the old saying he was going for, yet some people can’t discern between the real and the fake on the internet. You certainly can’t believe everything you read online, and now with the introduction of the misinformation supplement known as AI, you really have to be on your toes.
And though most are able to recognize it as “fake news,” some others are falling hook, line and sinker for these fabricated news stories that are all brought together with either simple graphics or AI-generated images. There are also narrated videos that sometimes accompany the post, and if someone talks over a picture slideshow, it’s got to be true, right? (WRONG).
I can’t even begin to tell you how many I’ve come across as I’ve surfed the web… it’s truly concerning. The only thing more troubling to think about are the thousands of people that are watching and consuming these stories and believing them. With social media being the main source of news for a large amount of the population, these fabricated stories are being churned out with reckless abandon, and they’re actually gaining traction online.
Take this one for example. A social media account by the name of “Liberal Tear Creator” put out a post on March 22 that stated Christian artist Brandon Lake, who has collaborated with a handful of country music stars in recent years, including Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, and most recently, Bailey Zimmerman, was suspended from artistic activities in New York City for two years. Why? The fake post claimed it was because he refused to wear “mandated attire for a televised LGBTQ+ pride event.”
What does “suspended from artistic activities” even mean? And suspended for two years like some kind of NFL player who got caught gambling… it doesn’t even make sense.
There was even a “quote” from NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (to be clear, it was fake) that apparently said Lake will never be allowed to perform in New York City again.
That right there is extremely, incredibly false.
So why am I directing your attention to it? Hopefully to help you – the reader – discern what’s real and fake online. Concerningly, that post has over 10,000 likes, and thousands of reposts and comments below it. No one apparently took the time to look further into the story. If they would have, they’d see that no credible news source is reporting this, and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani never said anything about Brandon Lake in this context. He’s busy trying to institute a crippling estate tax in New York City…
It’s all an internet hoax built to get clicks.
My advice to you (more importantly to the older people in your life) is to ask yourself a couple of questions when you see something online. If it feels like there is something off, chances are your instincts are serving you right. And just like many of us were told to not believe everything you see on the internet… don’t fall for a graphic with text overlaid on top of a picture.
