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> but so many of the lies spread via social media are easily disproved by consulting primary sources.

I wish this were true. I used to post snopes links and primary sources to Baby Boomer posts on Facebook, but it's hopeless. They either don't trust the fact-check, can rationalize it away, or just don't care. One of the most shocking realizations of my adult life has been learning that a very large portion of my otherwise high-functioning friends will believe anything, no matter how crazy or self-contradictory, if it reinforces their sense of self-righteousness.




And a whole bunch of people that see the minority or unpopular opinion as more valid because of it.


Why exactly should they trust Snopes in particular, as opposed to Washington Post, Fox News, RT, the North Korean news agency, etc.


Oh, no doubt. Easily disproving something is very different than convincing someone that it's disproven.




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