New Mythologies of Fake News

Abstract

An ideological state project of assigning science achievements to that of Hindu mythologies is indirectly undermining democratic structures. Emergence of the fake news phenomenon within the current post-truth era has threatened India's state harmony. From its dominant role in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, fake news has become a political tool which was misused in both events. One of the major concerns with fake content creation appeared in its use by the central government to disregard science. Political leaders are achieving this by propagating fictional accounts of material inventions from mythological epics like the Mahabharata as the origin for modern scientific inventions like airplanes. Such fake content is part of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) larger project directed towards creating a Hindu nation. These content are provided virality with the help of social media and online chat platforms like WhatsApp. The chapter tries to locate the role of the instant messaging application WhatsApp in establishing Hindu mythological achievements as the predecessor of modern science in India.

‘But wait, that isn't real’: A proof‐of‐concept study evaluating ‘Project Real’, a co‐created intervention that helps young people to spot fake news online

“…This is important as interventions such as Project Real are scalable and can fit into traditional school content rather than requiring extensive training and time out of traditional content to deliver. This means that interventions such as this can be used to help meet the UK Select Committee on Communication's (2017) recommendation that digital literacy is a pillar of education and help to combat the ‘fake news pandemic’ (Rajan, 2020).…”

“…The World Economic Forum (2013) ranked the spread of misinformation as one of the top risks facing the world today. The ‘fake news pandemic’ (Rajan, 2020) impacts public views on topics as varied as climate change and vaccines, reducing the perceived seriousness of these issues and undermining both science and society (Lewandowsky et al, 2017; van der Linden, Leiserowitz, et al, 2017; van der Linden, Maibach, et al, 2017). Fake news spreads six times faster online than the truth and, therefore, can reach more people quicker (Vosoughi et al, 2018).…”

Poder, religión y secularidad

“…(p. 23) Estas definiciones son centrales para el decurso melancólico en adelante, ya sea con las ciudades de la era axial 3 (Marina & Rambaud, 2018); las ciudades de los etruscos «que introdujeron [l]a ciudad-Estado en el centro de Italia» (Walker, 1999, p. 152); las ciudades Mundo medievales, «pequeñas ciudades de Flandes y del Mediterráneo, generalmente portuarias, organizan[do] los intercambios de un mundo [c] ada vez más vasto» (Atali, 2012, pp. 61-62); las ciudades letradas barrocas, consideradas como tales «porque su acción se cumplió en el prioritario orden de los signos y porque su implícita calidad sacerdotal contribuyó a dotarlos de un aspecto sagrado» (Rama, 1998, p. 32); o las smart cities contemporáneas en las que se afianzan autén-ticas congregaciones digitales que experiencian religiosamente (Rajan, 2019). Trátase de una sensación de desgajamiento, ruptura, degradación, de nostalgia por el apartamiento de la concentración o de los vínculos originarios, una evocación continua y permanente de pretéritas Edades de Oro.…”