Shattered Glass

Yesterday afternoon I watched a Cruise/Wagner movie called "Shattered Glass". The movie depicts a true story of how a young journalist, Stephen Glass, in his quest for fast fame and recognition, resort to writing fiction and passing them off as fact in an exclusive magazine of Air Force One, known as The New Republic. There were never any doubts on his stories, because there apparently was no other way to verify the facts other than from his notes, which he had carefully written to make sure he covered his tracks well. Until the editor of another magazine company Forbes, read his article on hackers, and reprimanded his reporter for not having got to the story, did this reporter launched an investigation to verify the facts. The story unfolded with Glass cooking up more lies after lies to cover up. He became disillusioned and was so convinced he had been at the venue of reporting. Of course the movie raised some ethical issues of journalism, but what really scared me was how fiction can be passed off as fact without the average reader realising it. Of course it is almost impossible for the average reader to fact checked, or even have any reason to doubt an article, so I had this wacky thought:

What if one day we wake up and realise that everyday we lived has been a lie? That whatever we read in the papers or watch on television were all made up by some larger force? That really we had just been leading mundane lives, going through the motions with nothing exciting at all happening. That 911, tsunami were all but scenes filmed in a studio and that there never did exist a World Trade Centre to begin with.

That is such a scary thought, the thought of having been manipulated, the thought of losing something we have taken for granted for so long.

Then again it's just my two cents worth. For now, I don't see a reason not to believe in whatever I read and watch so my faith still holds.