The Earth Did Not Tremble – But Our Minds Did Posted by The Cheeseburger Buddha

 

The Earth Did Not Tremble – But Our Minds Did

Posted by The Cheeseburger Buddha

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Lately, the digital winds have carried whispers of a mighty earthquake—one that never shook the earth, but did rattle the hearts of many. A so-called 7.9-magnitude quake in Israel, spread through dramatic videos and urgent social media posts, turned out to be nothing but a phantom fabrication stitched from recycled footage and algorithmic manipulation.

Why do we, in this so-called information age, fall so easily into the trap of disinformation?

As one who has lived through the analog years—when the truth still had a paper trail—I find myself deeply troubled. These viral hoaxes are not harmless jokes. They exploit our fears, divide communities, and erode our trust in one another. They numb the mind and stir chaos in the name of attention.

But we are not powerless.

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What Can Be Done?

• Pause before you share. Verify headlines and images. A quick check on sites like Reuters, BBC, or AFP Fact Check can make all the difference.

• Educate and uplift. Share your awareness with others. Help your children, elders, and peers recognize digital manipulation.

• Support truth-tellers. Real journalism, thoughtful blogging, and fact-checking efforts are our best defense.

• Hold platforms accountable. Demand better moderation and ethical responsibility from those who profit from virality, truthful or not.

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The Real Earthquake

The real shaking is not beneath our feet, but within our consciousness. The tremors of confusion, anger, and mistrust have already begun. It is now our task—not to panic, not to point fingers—but to awaken. To see. To speak the truth even when the truth is quiet, unsensational, or inconvenient.

“The tongue brought it, the tongue took it away.”
— A parable once told to me by a skull in the forest. Be careful with your words; they shape the world more than you know.

Let us not let fear do our thinking, nor algorithms be our prophets.

May we stay grounded in truth, anchored in awareness, and mindful of the waves we set in motion.

– The Cheeseburger Buddha