There’s no need for April Fools’ Day because we’re living in a fake news nightmare

Image: ambar del moral / mashable

I remember the halcyon days when April Fools’ Day was a bit of harmless fun. We’d read fake stories from the newspaper over our cornflakes and have a good chuckle. Fake news was just something that happened once a year. But, those days are gone.

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We are now living in the age of fake news; where mistruths are presented as truths, and believed at face value. Fake news is no longer a once-yearly event, it’s a 365-day-a-year news cycle. And, that’s why April Fools’ Day needs to die.

SEE ALSO: Stop dropping April Fools’ jokes a day early. Now.

“April’s Fool Day is a day when you have to constantly engage the critical and sceptical part of the brain so you don’t get duped,” says Claire Wardle, Director of Research and Strategy of First Draft News. “Now that we are increasingly encountering information that has been fabricated, manipulated or is downright misleading, we need to be engaging those same parts of our brains every day and questioning what we’re seeing in our social feeds.”

This year, April Fools’ Day inconveniently falls on a Saturday, leading brands to start their pranks early in order to counter any potential dip in exposure. It has resulted in a week-long run-up to this godforsaken event.

For journalists, it has meant days of wading through a deluge of press releases about fake stories, most of which don’t contain a helpful April Fools’ Day disclaimer.

Krispy Kreme’s not-so-funny April Fools’ prank.

Image: krispy kreme

On Thursday, several major news outlets in the UK fell foul to a prank by Krispy Kreme. The doughnut brand claimed it would be changing its name to “Krispy Cream” because Brits didn’t know how to pronounce the word “Kreme”. “Krispy Kreme UK is getting a more ‘English-friendly’ name so people stop mispronouncing it,” declared a headline. “Krispy Kreme is changing its name here in the UK to stop people misspellingit,” said another. Oh dear.

Publishing prank stories to an unsuspecting audience on any day of the year, even April 1, just isn’t funny anymore. It’s no longer acceptable because fake stories are already in circulation on a daily basis with serious implications.

In some instances, fake stories are outperforming real news. In the three months before the presidential election, viral fake election news stories had such high engagement they actually outperformed real news on Facebook. During the most critical time of the election campaign, the 20 top-performing fake election stories generated 8.7 million engagements on Facebook far outstripping the 7.3 million engagement garnered by mainstream news. Among the top-performing stories were headlines like “Hillary sold weapons to ISIS” and “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead”.

Since then, “fake news” has become ubiquitous and POTUS Donald Trump has appropriated the term to criticise media outlets:

By definition, fake news is false information masquerading as traditional news. It’s similar to propaganda because it distorts the truth for emotional persuasion. But the motivation behind fake news in the run-up to the US election wasn’t just political. Many creators of spoof stories were trying to make a quick buck from advertising on distributed content that was designed to gain a large audience. So, are brands using the excuse of April Fools’ Day to do the same thing?

“The same motivations drive the creators of fabricated stories and news sites. The unfortunate reality is that some people are using these same techniques on a daily basis to make money or to manipulate public opinion,” says Claire Wardle of First Draft News. “As consumers of information online we have to remain as alert on May, June and July 1 as we will be April 1.”

Some countries are taking a stand against April Fools’ Day because of fake news. Swedish and Norwegian newspapers announced Friday they wouldn’t be publishing April Fools’ jokes because they feared it would spread fake news. “We work with real news. Even onApril 1st,” said Magnus Karlsson, editor-in-chief of Swedish newspaper Smlandsposten, adding that he did not want the newspaper to “be spread with a potentially viral and erroneous story”.

Other news outlets should take note. Thanks to the fake news phenomenon, April Fools’ jokes should be a thing of the past. Don’t add to the problem.

WATCH: In stunning exchange, Trump refuses to answer question from CNN reporter

 

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/04/01/april-fools-day-fake-news/

Soprano and Baritone: what is the difference?

  • Soprano: It’s rather difficult to be a Soprano singer as this requires a high vocal range and is achieved only with a lot of experience and not everyone is capable of training on this singing. The word soprano actually refers to female singers, but in recent times even male singers sing the soprano vocal range and are called sopranists. Let’s look at what’s Mezzo Soprano! In Opera singing a person with very low tessitura’s are often called as Mezzo Sopranos, because not all of them can have a voice range as an expert opera singers and mostly women are referred to Mezzo Sopranos who are included in the Opera are typically second singers apart from the main lead singer. The terms Soprano, mezzo-sop ramp, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass are used to describe singers who are not classically trained or non-classical singers and are individuals who posses great voice and while singing in their own genre. Few of the famous singers in the world of Jazz, Classic-crossover, and Heavy metal are also under the Mezzo-Soprano category Tori Amos, Beyonce, Amy Lee, Leona Lewis, Madonna, Whitney Houston to name a few.
  • Baritone: The actual meaning of the word (Greek Word, Barytonos) which means deep sounding started getting familiar during the 18th It’s a type of classical male singing voice which sounds heavy and deep, the singer’s voice range lies between Bass and Tenor Voice type. The Most Enduring parts for Baritones in the 18th Century opera music was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and there on lead the singing into the 19th Century. Major Baritone of the first half of the 19th century was the Italian Antonio Tamburini, He was praised for his smooth, flexible tone. Charles W.Clark was regarded as the first American baritone singer to be famous in Europe and was legendary for his baritone singing. He sang his way into the hearts of his listeners from the first song he sang and the number only increased every time he sang. The best thing about his sing high notes was his enunciation which was very distinct and clear.

The Psychology Of Art

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Art is as old as we are. The freedom of mind can be best observed through this as it has the ability to open our minds and integrating our perceptions and cognition in the masterpiece appraised by all. It let us extend our knowledge across the boundaries controlling the fear inside ourselves and transforming it into a piece that speaks thousands of words without saying any. It is the psychology belonging to this arena that keeps the life of itself alive in ourselves and make us explore every concept more overwhelmingly and more intensely. It can be anything in the form of color, on the voice birds singing, any material touched or any other thing we value in our daily life.

Taking it intellectually comes to an interdisciplinary field known as the psychology of art that comprehends the characteristics and perceptions with multiple prospects. It is a field of science that study the insights and cognition behind the work. However, it looks bizarre to connect this with science, but this is the reality. Both the fields interconnected with each other.

As per the concepts of the psychology of art, it can be understood with the help of human brain processing. Apparently, it endeavors us to investigate it and is considered continuity of cultural values. These core elements direct towards the work with respect to the psychology. Moreover, it is something to be perceived and the psychology is something to ask questions on this perception. It dwells in a cultural continuum that can be understood by analyzing the work.

Art can be in any form and could have been created at any time, expressing the ideas by human, imaginations, desires and expectations of nature. However, it makes an impression of any historical event. Concurrently, this field has taken itself quite far from the expectations of a normal person or at least far from the limits that are defined in any particular period of time but still spreading its wings with constant speed.

According to few people, art adds magic in the perception fascinating the world and let them search for an unknown world. This field is a life in itself, which offers an equilibrium to the human life without keeping itself firm. It holds the pride in itself for not being specific for any particular period, but for a lifetime.

The art is contemplated for speaking the truth behind the unspoken words and this is how it astonishes us by telling that part of life we are unfamiliar with, for example, artwork by our ancestors. It is the nature of humankind that it feels the joy in everything that demands to be explained and this is what psychology do. Either it is a painting or a poetry they all holds a breathtaking charm in themselves, which are required to be understood by those who feels the beauty of life. Our capability to revert to this non-living beauty makes us identify it in a way more immense way. In a nutshell, it makes us undergo a freedom that is being mitigated by our daily routines.