Viralus Interneticus

[Darris McNeely] Have you heard about the new virus that's going around? It's called "Viralus Interneticus". I just made it up. There's really not a "Viralus Interneticus" but there is something that does infect us whenever something goes viral on the internet. A news item, a big headline or perhaps a YouTube clip.

Just recently there was a major headline that aired on a major news channel on the internet that has something about President Trump that people jumped on that was later found to be false. And then actually on the same day there was a YouTube clip of a boy school having a confrontation in Washington DC with other protesters at the Lincoln Monument and that went viral and that created a sensation of misinformation, misunderstanding about what really happened because only a few seconds of a larger several minute clip was played and put out to people and people didn't have the context. They didn't have a full understanding. They weren't there. They jumped to conclusions and some very, very serious misjudgments were made on both cases.

It happens all the time. We've all been impacted by it. We've all been infected by this "Viralus Interneticus". And it's important that we take a step back in our use of social media as we troll and you peruse the Facebook feeds, Twitter, YouTube and everything else that is out there and all the information and all the so-called entertainment and facts that are there and find out exactly what the truth is.

There's a Scripture that we should keep in mind as we are looking at this. It's in Proverbs 18. Spiritual perspective on this can help us to step back and take a godly view of a lot of the information that we have and also all the inputs that come into our lives. It says that "He who answers a matter before he hears it is folly and shame to him" (Proverbs 18:13)

I've been guilty of answering a matter before I've heard it. Have you? Yeah. It happens.

We're all subject to that aspect of our human nature that we're not quite all really proud of. When it happens on a large scale and it becomes a major cause in the media sometimes people get hurt, reputations get damaged. And it all could be solved if we would take again a step back and say, "Is this true? Get to the facts. Get to the bottom of the situation." When we do that we're following the scriptural principle of seeking to truth and finding the facts.

There's an old saying I remember from my youth from another television program, "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts." We all should be wanting the facts about anything and get to the truth and if we do then we're gonna be following the scriptural principle and we're going to be avoiding that new virus, "Viralus Interneticus".

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.