No Thanks

 This past week I spent two days in Aberdeen, two days in Wales and two days in London with two friends who happen to live in opposite ends of the country. Whilst I was up in Scotland I was hearing a lot about their Referendum that's coming up so soon. It's practically the only subject in conversation in the north. On the second night we went out in Aberdeen and met some people in a club and got chatting, as you do.

 This next conversation represented clearly to me what I believe is a huge and really frightening problem evolving as a result of social media - or rather, the ease in the gain and spread of information nowadays. One particular girl I spoke to told me quite openly that she was going to vote 'Yes'. She then said to me, that the only reason she had decided on this was because 'wages will increase'.

(In the Scottish Government's words this was put as: 'ensuring that the minimum wage rises in line with inflation' a grand promise)

 If you think for a minute about this statement, which has obviously been pumped out of Alex Salmond's campaigners, how on Earth are they going to guarantee that wages will go up. Scotland doesn't have a fully working government yet, on who's calculator was that phrase legitimised? It is such a vague and unconfirmed claim, for a country who do not yet have a running system and cannot yet have worked out the unforeseen costings that will come with their separation from Britain.

 Don't get me wrong, if Scotland wants to leave then I think it's a deep loss for us, but they must go if it's their wish. However, if people are basing their vote on such absolute gossip and vague ideas, then it will result in regret and a complete mess. Their first government will have lied to them, or guessed figures to please people. That wouldn't be a fantastic start.

 It's part of a wider problem I believe has been breached out of the lazy way we can now encounter news and gain national and international information. People generally will hear one comment from someone they know and that will become gospel. I know myself, that I've passionately repeated something I've heard on the grapevine as the ultimate truth, when it's occurred in conversation elsewhere, at a later date. To me, people seem rather vicious and aggressive about things they just don't know fully about or even understand before they back it.

 I am trying now to research and check my information before I go parading it as the absolute truth. We should be balanced and if we care about something, we should research and get our facts from more reliable sources.

 Recently, I wrote an aggressive article as an English experiment; I wanted to create something vicious and see what the reaction was. I sent it to my family and very quickly had a venomous email returned by one of my brothers, who was furious I had made such huge comparisons and broad statements without knowing anything on topic. He was right, but it was also just an experiment, I was at that moment in a hostel in Mexico with patchy wifi and only Spanish literature, which makes researching your point quite difficult. Interestingly, as he'd sort of been provoked, he then made huge stereotypes about the people I'd spoken to and the origin of the opinions listed. He was trying to deter me away from doing something that he then himself did, as he was so angry. So the circle goes on.

 We cannot possibly know the truth about many, many things that go on in the world. I suspect that a great deal of what we hear is bent slightly or an outright lie. So I urge people to think before they back something and to use common sense when thinking about important decisions, seeing as we are now eligible for voting and I daresay with our attitude that could be a scary prospect.