Conspiracy Theories

If your family is anything like mine, you might have differences of opinion about a lot of topics. You might argue over who makes the best dessert or who is the best card player. You may disagree so hard that you’ve agreed to not talk about anything political at all. The problem with that is — we are constantly inundated with news and information, and it’s hard not to talk about it. 

At Thanksgiving last year, one of my adult family members brought up the conspiracy theory that schools have kitty litter boxes for kids who identify as Furries to use instead of a toilet. Her exact words were, “I think if schools can allow kitty litter boxes, they should allow ripped jeans.” 

Faulty analogy aside, this kitty litter in schools story has been debunked (disproven; proven to be false or wrong) over and over again since it first came online. So why was my 50 year old cousin still talking about it as though it was true? 

Part of the reason is her algorithm. She has curated her news and social media feeds to be full of content creators that spread mis and disinformation. Her online presence is an echo chamber of these far-right conspiracies, and she believes everything she reads. 

If well-educated adults — from our family members to our politicians — are falling for the lies, how can schools help students be better at spotting mis and disinformation? 

First, we have to talk about it. 

Hot Topic

One way I love to bring up current events in class is to ask students to share a “Hot Topic” once a week. We discuss the story, where the news came from, and how we know if it is true or not. It gets students talking about their own algorithms and echo chambers. 

Give it a Goog 

We have to train our students (and ourselves) to question everything - to be skeptical. When a student shares something with me that sounds like mis or disinformation, such as worries about the Covid vaccine, I ask where they got their information, and ask them to “give it a Goog” (ie: start with a Google search). 

A simple Google search of “kitty litter conspiracy debunked” brings up a Wikipedia page calling the story a hoax, a news article calling the story an urban myth, and another one listing the retractions of GOP lawmakers who spread the misinformed story. 

Teach Vocabulary 

It is important for students to be able to name what they are reading/viewing online. Some words they need to know:

Misinformation — Generally used to refer to misleading information created or disseminated without a deliberate intent to cause harm.

Disinformation — False information that’s created and shared to deliberately cause harm.

Fake News — News or stories on the internet that are not true. They may be in the form of disinformation or misinformation.

Fact Checking — to check that all the facts in a piece of writing, a news article, a speech, etc. are correct

Zombie Claim — a false claim that comes up repeatedly

Debunked — proven to be false or hollow; discredited

Needs Context — some of the story might be true, but it needs to be placed in the right setting; otherwise, it can be misunderstood or misleading

Algorithm (in social media) — a way of sorting posts in a users' feed based on relevancy instead of publish time. Social networks prioritize which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they'll actually want to see it.

Deepfake — A deepfake is an image, or a video or audio recording, that has been edited using an algorithm to replace the person in the original with someone else (especially a public figure) in a way that makes it look authentic.

Teach them to question everything — be skeptical

  1. Who is behind this information?

    • Check out their bio.

    • Are they a professional?

    • Why should you trust them?

    • Do they have something to gain?

  2. What are other sources saying?

    • What proves that what they’re saying is accurate?

    • Do they provide context?

  3. What are other sources saying? 

    • Check out multiple news outlets and official government sources to find out what’s legit.

Most of these ideas come from Poynter’s Media Wise Education Resources. I highly recommend checking them out and making Media Literacy a part of your classroom. Check them out on Tik Tok, too. Our democracy depends on it.

July 31, 2023