Now, there is a new Corona virus going around in the world. We don’t know about it, so we want to know its danger, prevention, and so on, but we can hardly get reliable information. And we use internet, for example twitter, LINE, and websites. A lot of such information is wrong, so you should know about false rumors and fake news, and consider things carefully!
Quick Look at the contents
1.What are a false rumor and fake news?
2.This is not true, but it can’t be helped! Nobody knows the future!
3.Please think twice! Are those true?
4.What terrible false rumors it is! It is unforgivable!
5.Be careful not to be deceived in false rumors and fake news.
1.What are a false rumor and fake news?
A false rumor is just an incorrect information that is passed from one person to another. It is said Dema in Japanese. Fake news is false stories that appear to be news. It is spread on the internet or using other media, and usually created to influence political views or as a joke. Recently, wrong news sometimes is also called fake news. Though a false rumor and fake news are a little different, those are same in that those confuse people.
2.This is not true, but it can’t be helped! Nobody knows the future!
Please look at this picture. This is from one book. To put it simply, it says there is little possibility that COVID-19 affects the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but, as many of you know, the International Olympic Committee has decided to hold off on the Olympics until next year. Though this information from the book is not true, it can’t be helped because nobody knows the future. (To be honest, I think people who published the book should be more careful not to give the readers wrong information.) Surprisingly, the information not only from the internet, but also from books sometimes is wrong!! To be exact, this is not either false rumor or fake news, because it is speculation and this book say that the information in the book was based on the situation February 19th, 2020. But we should be careful!
3.Please think twice! Are those true?
First, this picture is mail of LINE from my friend. (Of course, I gained permission to use this picture on the site from my friend.) I translate.
Please spread the message. To protect yourself is most important. A new Corona virus turned out to be sensitive to heat. It is poor heat resistance, and dies of a temperature of 26-27 degrees Celsius. So, please drink more hot water. To drink hot water is effective against all virus. We must avoid cold food. A lot of people get infected with viruses from the end of February to the end of March. Please carry and drink hot tea on you with a pot. (A thing called pot here is such a like thermos.)
Let’s think carefully here. If a new Corona virus dies of a temperature of 26-27 degrees Celsius, it is killed by human’s body temperature. This is impossible because new Corona viruses are going around among human in the world.
Look at next picture.
The sentence at the bottom of the picture means “a false rumor that we are running short of both toilet paper and tissue paper has spread” in English. The reasons of having spread the false rumor are thought two. First reason is that toilet paper is made in China. Second reason is that toilet paper is made of same materials of masks. These two things are wrong! 98% of toilet paper is made in Japan. Toilet paper mainly is made of pulp, and masks are made of cloth called Husyokuhu. Like this, people were deceived in the false rumor although we can get the correct information if we search for it.
4.What terrible false information it is! It is unforgivable!
The picture is from news program. The woman in the picture runs her own side dish shop. One day, there was the news one person with a new Corona virus entered a side dish shop at the area she run her shop. There was no contact that the shop is her shop from Public health center to her, but a false rumor spread. Because her shop is same area, the rumor says that the person with a new Corona virus entered her shop. This is false, but her shop is in danger by false information.
5.Be careful not to be deceived in false rumors and fake news.
We learned from COVID-19. As we enter into an online world, the amount of false rumors and fake news increases, but the information from books, TV and magazines sometimes is wrong. We should get the ability to get hold of reliable information from now on. And of course, you should make sure if the information of this article is reliable!! Let’s do it!
