I know I make a lot of stuff up in this column for fun, but this one deals with falsehoods spread on social media, and the difference between truth and fiction. All examples used below are true, or I should say true examples of lies. Now I’m confusing myself.
Ah Facebook. Yes, it has enabled us to be in touch with long-lost high school friends, reunite with family members we didn’t even know we had, and post photos of our breakfast, but it comes at a price, and not just the price of sucking up time that would be better spent practicing the G-run.
It has also led to severed relationships and strained Thanksgiving dinners, but one of the biggest hazards seems to be the proliferation of false information, at first deliberately spread by some “bad actors” (I’m not referring to some of the people cast in Hallmark Christmas movies), often with a political motive, but sometimes just to divide people or just to get a lot of views, i.e., for the profit motive.
I covered some of this in another column back in June about bluegrass clickbait, in which I also pointed out that some social media stories are outrageously false by design, simply to raise the “engagement” numbers, and make money off the false post. Yes, they even like it when well-intentioned readers comment to correct their misinformation. It’s just more potential profit for them (or “it,” as the case may be).
After the initial spreading of false stories—sometimes accompanied by fake, AI-generated photos with extra fingers and things—thousands of Facebook users share them, often just because they reinforce their own political or religious views. People also share them because they didn’t take the 30 seconds of research time it takes to determine if the story is true or just a false tale first circulated in 2003, like the early kidney-stealing urban legends.
As if phony stories about politics, natural disasters, and medical issues weren’t enough, we now have to contend with country music and bluegrass disinformation. Maybe it’s not as worrisome or consequential, but it might be even more annoying because of how pointless it is. After all, what would be the motive behind making up a random story about Gene Watson? But people—or bots directed by people—are doing it, and it’s now sadly affecting artists in the bluegrass community. These stories are spread by an increasingly large number of social media accounts of questionable origin that exist just for this purpose. Their stories are emotionally manipulative, and quite a few of them attempt to stir up controversy by pitting artists against each other: “Alan Jackson speaks out about new Beyoncé album!” (Beyoncé is a favorite target, for some reason). The stories are never true.
These Facebook accounts have generic, pleasant-sounding names like, “Country Music Lives,” “Legends Daily,” or “The Porchlight Sound” (isn’t that the sound of moths hitting the bulb?).
To show how these kinds of social media lies have started to hit home for us, I came across a Facebook account with another innocuous name, “Forever Favourites.” it gives a Missouri address, despite the British Commonwealth spelling of “favourites,” but on closer look, is administered in Vietnam. It features various sensational stories that use the names of Rhonda Vincent, Darrin Vincent, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart as clickbait. Here’s a sample of some of their headlines:
“At 66, Marty Stuart’s Childhood Dream Comes True. Watch Video Here!”
“SHOCKING NEWS: at 70, Ricky Skaggs revealed a bewildering secret at the ceremony . . .Leaving Fans in Tears (why the caps? Is “Leaving Fans in Tears” the title of a song?). Watch Video Here!”
“SHOCKING NEWS: (all caps—that’s how we know it’s shocking): at 62, a Family Member Claims — ‘if Rhonda Told the Whole Truth About What Happened in the Band, Many People Wouldn’t Believe it’ Watch Video Here!”
Why “Forever Favourites” feels that giving everyone’s ages (including the mysterious 62-year old Vincent family member) matters, or leads to more engagement, I have no idea, but their pattern is consistent.
Perhaps it’s all pointless, as suggested above, but the fact is that some of these stories are damaging to bluegrass and country artists, a good example being some recent ones suggesting that Rhonda Vincent is retiring. She isn’t. One of the accounts spreading the story was “The Porchlight Sound,” mentioned earlier. Sadly, bluegrass fans and even people who know Rhonda personally reacted and commented (“Oh no! We’ll miss you Soooooo much!!!”). This kind of thing only gets promoters and concert ticket-holders panicked because they’re suddenly worried that Rhonda won’t be playing next April’s show.
Rhonda then has to spend valuable time trying to spread the true story that she has no intention of retiring. Naturally, that can be an uphill battle, because as the saying goes, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.” We generally credit that quote to Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, or possibly Lester Flatt. In any case it was said long before social media and the instantaneous worldwide reach of utter BS we’re now accustomed to. It was ahead of its time.
Again, Rhonda Vincent is not retiring. Sure, some year she might decide to cut back to 285 road dates a year, but that’s hardly retirement, even by our loose bluegrass definition of that word.
When I last looked, the “Forever Favourites” account only had,18,000 followers and not a ton of likes and shares, but that’s 17,998 more than there should be (leaving room for the administrator in Vietnam and his girlfriend Rosanna). Just on principle, I blocked the page just after writing this. I did the same for “The Porchlight Sound,” and “Oldies Radio Stations.” You should do the same, and tempting as it is, don’t comment or add a sad face emoji. That just increases the reach of the moth hitting the porch light.
