As anyone with a Twitter account can tell you, Justin Bieber was recently caught smoking marijuana. This type of news is usually just pop-news garbage that my generation eats up.

The real story is the reaction provided by Justin Bieber’s fan base. In an illogical plan to stop Justin from being so destructive, Beliebers took to social networking behind the hashtag “Cut for Bieber.”

Fans literally uploaded pictures to twitter of bloody wrists, vowing to not stop cutting themselves until Bieber stops doing drugs.

In all honesty, Justin Bieber fans haven’t been known for logical decisions. There’s a difference between appreciating his music, and cutting yourself because someone that is 18 years old (Bieber) smoked pot.

Incidentally, the trend was a hoax, and was started by a group called “4chan,” an image-board website similar to Reddit or Tumblr.

This only shows how we truly live not in the Information Age, but in the Misinformation Age. People are able to take advantage of a fan base by planting a shocking, but fake, rumor. Because of social networking, it seems that if enough people are talking about something, it becomes fact.

For example, there was a trending topic on Twitter called “RIP Bill Nye the Science Guy.” If you have been in a public school, you know who Bill Nye is. He’s a scientist who created a tv series that makes science applicable, and fun for young students.

This trending topic proclaimed that he had passed away. I figured that no one could take it seriously, and went on with my life as usual. All was well until I went to lunch with a few friends, and one of them began talking about how they couldn’t believe that Bill Nye passed away. Furthermore, they said that it must be true; it was on Twitter.

If I can leave you, reader, with one piece of information, this is it: Don’t believe ANYTHING you read on social networks. If it interests you that much, do further research of your own, and conclude whether or not it’s true. Don’t be another victim of the Misinformation Age.