There Is No Truth On The Internet

There is no truth on the internet. It might seem like all of the truth is out there, at the tips of your finger. But the truth is, that is simply impossible. Let me explain. Have you seen that episode from “How I Met Your Mother” in which Barney tries to make all his nights legendary? It’s called “Now We’re Even” and is probably my favourite episode of the entire series (episode 21, season 7) because it’s simply brilliant.

The premises here is that you can have nothing but legendary nights. Barney and Ted start by forming a mariachi band. Then, they devour the entire menu at the bar. They then go ahead and bring a horse into the bar. Things start to slow down when they try to bungee-jump off of the Statue of Liberty. Or when they want to steal a goddamn camel. You get the gist.

There is no truth on the internet… because all the truth is on the internet

The thing about this is, it brings out a life truth that’s inevitable and that demolishes a lot of people. Because it messes with their expectations. And if one thing is certain about people, that is they fall hard on their asses when their expectations fail them. If all nights are legendary, no night is legendary. Ted tells this to Barney and, as expected, he doesn’t take it lightly and starts accusing Ted of being inferior and boring. But Ted is right.

“If all nights are legendary, no night is legendary” – Ted Mosby.

If every day would be all joy and bliss, then no day would be enjoyable. Because you’d never know the difference between happiness and sorrow, for example. If all flights you’d take would be full of turbulence, no flights you take would be shaky because you’d think all flights should be like that. If all the food you ate would be salty, no food would be salty because you’d just think that’s the norm with food, for it to be salty.

The reliability of advice on the internet

The same goes for the internet. If all the truth in the world is on the internet, it means there’s absolutely no truth on the internet. The two extremes simply eliminate one another. If you can know everything and anything with just a push of a button, you know absolutely nothing in the end. This is perfectly explained in the video Casey Neistat made about the #DoWhatYouCant campaign for Samsung.

“You don’t have to listen to anyone, because in this new world, no one knows anything” – Casey Neistat.

If all people have access to everything, ergo, if all people know everything, nobody knows anything. When you’re surfing the web, even though it feels like you know all that there is to be known, you actually know nothing. Because if you know everything, you know nothing. The concept is very simple and honest, yet people forget about it the minute they start up their laptops or smartphones.

For those who believe…

The moment they get on Facebook, that’s the truth right there. The smiles they see from their friends, the cars, the houses, expensive holidays, nice clothes, foods and perfumes. They never take what they see on the internet with a grain of salt. Because to them that’s the ultimate truth. They know that’s how it is because it’s on the internet. It has to be true. It has to be real. There can’t be any questioning or second guesses about what you read or see on there.

The biggest truth about the internet is, there is no truth on the internet. People make their own truths. Which means that what’s true for you is not true for the person sitting next to you. And because each and every one of us operates the same way, there can be no truth on the internet because everybody has their own versions of it.

“For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice” – Joseph Dunninger.

Whatever it is that you believe, it’s hard to second guess it because you don’t need an explanation to believe in the thing you believe in. If you don’t, regardless of how powerful of an explanation you get for a thing, you’ll never be able to believe in it to your fullest.