6 | APRIL 28 • 2022 

opinion
Social Media in Times of War
I

t is pretty impossible not 
to be aware of what’s going 
on in the world these days. 
Even if you live under a rock, 
As long as your device is con-
nected to wifi, 
you will be aware 
of everything 
that’s going 
on. You will be 
aware, but will 
you know what’s 
happening? You 
can share any 
post, but are you able to check 
its sources? There is a vast dif-
ference between knowing and 
being aware.
Facebook, Instagram, 
Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok. 
Scrolling through our feeds, we 
see endless videos, opinions and 
things that people are putting 
out there, hashtag #proX or 
#proY, people writing about 

something controversial that 
they heard, and the world will 
immediately jump to conclu-
sions. Sometimes, those con-
clusions can even be dangerous. 
Yet, we don’t stop to think about 
what’s even out there anymore. 
Opinions? Facts? These days, 

does it even matter?
Social media is not just a 
black hole of fake news and 
flammable opinions. Some 
people use it for good, taking 
advantage of the power of the 
crowd to promote facts, donate 
money, show support and rec-

ognition, and above it all, share 
real stories and experiences 
from an honest, intimate point 
of view: Live videos from the 
loaded trains in Ukraine, people 
taking videos of themselves 
trying to escape from the battles 
or even TikToks from refugee 
camps. Moments that the world 
would probably not be able 
to see without the help of this 
unique platform.
The problem is that most 
of the content that critically 
matters is gone in the face of 
the infinity of fake news and 
non-accurate information, 
becoming another post we just 
scrolled up. 
There are so many ways to 
share information today. And 
with the right filter and the 
right font, letters, wording and 
colors, everything is possible to 
believe. But, unfortunately, with 

Ron Harel

Rockets fall in Israel in May 2021.

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 10

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