Dispelling rumours is now a public responsibility

Imlisanen Jamir

Authorities are struggling to contain them. They're popping up all over the place.

No, not just the COVID-19 cases. Rumours.

Despite repeated reminders to not fall prey to rumours disguised as news, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a milieu of fear that the people have found it hard to always depend on their reasonableness.

Just this weekend, rumours of possible cases in the State took over conversations. Just as this fake news was doing the rounds, there emerged sensationalised and incomplete information about security personnel coming back from leave being tested in Dimapur.

The incomplete nature of the news created fear and confusion as there circulated another fake news that lockdown restrictions would be made more stringent. All this information was either completely fake or incomplete and circulated without context. 

Then there is another element to this rumour cycle.

 Baseless rumours are bothersome enough. ("Did you know they're going to tax the Internet?" or "Just post this statement on Facebook to protect your personal information.") When your grandmother sends you a bogus email claiming hot water with lemon kills cancer cells, it doesn't spark widespread panic.

But the changing threat of COVID-19 is changing our daily routines - how we shop, where we travel. Any so-called "facts" related to the sickness can take on dangerous lives of their own if they persist unchecked.

To fight this parallel pandemic of fake news, there is only so much the State apparatus can do in a democratic set up. And any large scale sweeping measures to limit the flow of fake information will ultimately lead to curbs on essential freedoms of communication.

Given these circumstances, it has now become a public responsibility to consciously make efforts to filter out the flow of information, while filtering out rumours and fake news. Given the one click nature of the present world, it appears taxing to go through even a single phase of authentication through an additional click. But this is something we will need to do.

Acquaint yourself with the falsehoods that are being spread, and the truths that can help you cope with what's happening now and what we might expect in coming weeks.

Unlike the Coronavirus, you can inoculate yourselves from gossip so harmful that misguided believers are putting their lives, and the lives of others, at grave risk.

Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com