During the early 2000s when I was first teaching middle school, I heard my mentor say to one of our students, “Garbage in, garbage out.” At the time, it was simply a passing comment because the teen was listening to music with foul language, but it stuck with me and often floats through my mind as I consume content or guide my children in their consumption of content.

Let’s not sugarcoat it anymore. To call it “misinformation” is, in itself, misinformation. Let’s just call it what it is — straight-up lies, of the sort that would earn you a whoopin’ by meemaw if you repeated them to her face instead of spreading them from behind a keyboard like a coward. 

Right now, there are a handful of old cardboard boxes in the back of my girlfriend’s car. Inside the boxes are several dusty photo albums of Sarah’s past.

Think Facebook’s ban of Donald Trump is justified? It’s a fascinating issue, one that gets to the heart of the differences between the internet and more traditional news sources like television, radio and newspapers.