The message read, “The direction of the wind has changed and the radioactive material will arrive at the Korean Peninsula at 4:00 p.m., so stay indoors.”
Later that day the Korea Meteorological Administration reported the message as a groundless rumor expeditiously to refrain from spreading. Also, major news organizations quickly reported the truth.
The spreader of the rumor was caught by the police soon. It was a 28 year-old man who decided to spread the rumor after he had received a text message from his friend in the Philippines. He also received the message as fake BBC breaking news.
Although the man who spread the rumor has a fault, there are also subjects that we should realize and pay attention to. Korean people and the society have been vulnerable to baseless rumors whenever an event happens in the society. The deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year is another example. Although it is not our duty; we must try to differentiate truth from fiction.
People prone to believe the misinformation easily as rumors thrive everywhere like a virus.
However, for some of the baseless rumors, it is not a hard task for people to tell whether it is a wild rumor or not. If one has no information or knowledge on the rumor, one can always refer to sources out there. Simply checking the fact on a reliable source such as the news or experts’ knowledge is one way.
Finding out the truth of the rumors does not take that much time. Before believing and spreading the rumors to others, people should check and find about the truth.
Without checking the truth and just believing what is out in the world is just a way to make you more anxious. To differentiate truth from fiction is inevitable.
Ewha Voice
evoice@ewha.ac.kr