REAPHIS

Full Name: ODIAMAN, REX GILBERT, OROSCO

Program & Section Code: BSA-474

DIRECTIONS: in less than 600 words you will write a narrative about ways of debunking a
historical fact and give ways and tips on how to distinguish a fact to a fake information. Write your
answer in the space provided below.

UNIT ACTIVITY #2: NARRATIVE PAPER

Out Debunking

It was a fine Sunday afternoon. I was lying on a slightly worn out hammock, on the rooftop of my
grandparents’ house, and was taking time off from an eventful week. I had just finished some of my
backlogs from the preceding week. It was very peaceful and relaxing. For some reason, I just can’t
help myself from getting my phone to check on my social media to keep up with what’s happening.

I was going through my news feed, when I came across a shared post from my friend. The post that
he shared was a well-crafted publication material that contained information about the inventor of
the light bulb. I can’t remember what the exact content was, but I think it read; ‘Did you know that
Thomas Edison created the very first light bulb?’

For some reason, the fact did not sit well within my thoughts. As I scrolled down, I felt an urge to go
back and do some research on the fact. From there, I have taken steps to embark on a mini
debunking quest to find out the truthfulness of the shared information and if whether or not my
instincts were right – that something was fishy. Here are three things that I did to come to a
conclusion.

The first thing that I did was to go back to that post and read beyond the headlines or in that case,
read the information that follows the title. And sure enough, it did not matched the main point
of the post. I soon noticed some satirical or humorous elements within the wordings.

Then, I decided to visit their page, just so I can get a clearer description of what the administrators
are all about. I did this because in most cases, responsible sites tend to indicate their intentions
directly or indirectly on the ‘About Us’ portion. In the case of ‘Some Facts,’ which was the name of the
page, they clearly stated that they are a satirical page that aims to poke fun on common
misconceptions with the use of professional editing. They also aimed to challenge people’s ability to
distinguish facts from myths with easily identifiable publication materials.

To wrap things up, and maybe, to check if whether or not my instincts were right about getting me to
go back and review the fact, I did one more step. I went online and clicked on a fact checking website,
FactCheck.org. I went on to check the accuracy of the fact, and sure enough my instincts were right.

Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Edison did not invent the original light bulb. He was just one of
the many inventors striving to create the most efficient version. He did paved the way for the biggest
improvement of it, in terms of reliability, affordability, and durability. Since then, the design was
refined to be the incandescent bulbs we use today.

After what seemed to be an hour, the feeling of something bothering me went away. I felt very good
as I was able to identify a false historical fact. However, it doesn’t end there as it was now my moral
and social responsibility to tell my friend about what I have learned so it won’t happen again.

In conclusion, it is very crucial that people learn the basics of debunking information. We are heavily
bombarded by information from the wide world of social media. Some may be true but most are not.
I am very fortunate that I had knowledge on debunking but alas I can only hope that more people
could gain access to such critical learning.