“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

This is a statement people once used all the time but it’s as useful today as telling someone to roll down the car window or to let their fingers do the walking. Remember when you used to be able to slam the phone down when you were mad? 

I’ll believe it when I see it is a phrase you can still use some in real life. “I’ll believe he will quit smoking when I see it” or “l’ll believe he’s an honest politician when I see it,” are phrases that come to mind. 

But technology has almost banished this phrase from my vocabulary because you really can’t believe anything you see when it comes to photos, video and even voiceovers on television and the internet. 

It’s easy to edit and create photos and videos to represent anything you like. Artificial Intelligence has made this process literally as easy as pie. Mangled up facts and opinions get passed off as truth and facts provided by sources that are increasingly unreliable. Actors like Tom Hanks have their voice and likeness stolen by unscrupulous companies that are peddling all manner of goods and services. You can manipulate any picture or video to look like anything you please using a cheap app on your phone. 

Now when you answer the phone, it’s hard to know if you’re even talking to a real person and even the voices of friends and family can be replicated. 

At least in my state, there is absolutely no regulation of political advertising. That means parties, candidates and their pacs can say anything they want, edit videos of people speaking in any way they like and misrepresent facts in whatever way best suits their interests. 

I have seen so many smart people sharing things on social media that are blatantly untrue, false representations and terrible click bait. It occurs to me that much of it gets shared because they want it to be true – even if they know deep down that it isn’t. 

All of this garbage impacts our minds and elections. It impacts how we interact with our neighbors and how we view community leaders, organizations and churches. Even our vocabulary is changing as we have added new insults and transformed words and phrases with new meanings. 

As we delve deeper into this strange new world, I find myself constantly checking my own thoughts and biases. Instead of relying on one source for news and information, I look at many. 

As the political season heats up, we can expect this all to worsen. Unfortunately, the fate of the nation hangs in the balance between lies and truth. We all have a responsibility to focus on the facts and to stop the sharing of misrepresentations and lies. Whether it’s political or just an ad that sounds like Morgan Freeman selling carpets, let’s all do our part to slow down the flow of bad information.