Wednesday, January 16, 2019

.....of FAKE news and gullible natives.

Yesterday someone sent me this video clip above on my WhatsApp and within minutes I was getting a few more of the same clip from various other friends. I immediately messaged the guy who first sent me and asked if this clip was indeed a local robbery and I said to him the robbers looked kinda foreign to me. 

He replied in the negative and also added this scene actually happened in Puchong last evening and even attached the mug-shots of the eight guys supposedly in the clip. 
Along with the mug-shots he also attached a voice recording from a Malay guy ( unfortunately I don't know how to upload that voice message from WhatsApp media to this here blog but if you are really interested please send me your WhatsApp phone number and I will share with you.) who warns the public that these guys in the mug-shot are a new breed of robbers from various fragmented gangs who have come together for this "hit" at the restaurant in Puchong. 

All this I news I absorbed until about half an hour later another friend sent me on WhatsApp too a link regarding the robbery which supposedly happened in Puchong the day before. Translate and read here
What is shocking is that such news, if not verified and confirmed can become viral in a short span of time. Many will gobble up whatever they read or view instantly and think they are the only one in possession of some "hot" news and immediately start viraling it. And they can also come up with justifications of each clip or photo linking to their original message. 
Perhaps the mug-shots and the voice-message were in tandem to a recent robbery in Puchong, but how they linked this story with a robbery in Bolivia has still got me scratching my head ! 

On a digressive note, its been quiet a while since I last wrote on this blog here and I must confess I've missed doing some. Perhaps the state of affairs in this country has made me bitter and delusional. Or maybe it was just me getting tired of disappointments.
Whatever it was....I'm back ! Cheers !