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MALTATODAY 13 October 2019

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OPINION 26 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 OCTOBER 2019 IN an earlier life I lived in Sicily. It's an enchanting place where, to a certain extent, one can breathe and see the extremes of live. It was also a period in my life where I learnt a lot. Malta then was not what Malta is today. There were no 'no-frills' airlines taking you to Europe for the cost of a taxi ride. There was no internet and little exposure to the out- side world. One day a child from the small village where I lived needed to go to hospital. He was taken to Palermo which, for many rural Sicilians, was the epitome of a metropolis; few had left their village, let alone travelled to other places. This young child arrived at the hospital and stared at the stairs to the first floor. He was amazed. He didn't know what to do. Then it dawned on those around him. This young child, born and raised in the coun- tryside, had never seen a large building with huge steps. He had to learn how to go about it. Everything is relative. There is no uniformity in what we do. What is simple for you is com- plicated for me. What is simple for me may be complicated for others. Understanding this is a life lesson. Throughout life one has to have the self-awareness to appreciate the different col- ours of things. Black and white rarely exist in life. I am talking about this in the context of the conference I attended this week organised by the Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning on un- derstanding post-truth society. The point I made was that the fake news phenomenon is not something new. It always exist- ed. God knows closed societies, such as North Korea and the Soviet Union, had perfected them. What has changed today is the packaging of it, and the digital analytical aspects which increases consumption through wider volume. I remember adverts in news- papers, including British and American ones, which clearly said that cigarettes were good for you. Google them and you will find them. In one particu- lar American ad, it went as far as saying "Just what the doc- tor ordered". Marlboro used children, babies even, in their advertising to encourage young fathers to buy their cigarettes. What has happened since then? We have created regula- tions around false advertising and restricted such manipu- lation and fakery. This will also happen with social media eventually. Platforms such as Facebook have already been warned that this cannot continue and to beef up their internal mechanisms to limit abuse and fake news. I believe that eventually, perhaps even through AI, fake news will become a thing of the past. However, what will happen is what has always happened. Manipulation will take another form, and this is where I think we have to focus our energies. Critical thinking is the key – especially if we nurture young people, from an early age, to analyse things properly. With every generation this is improving. Like anything, this is something that can be de- veloped in schools. As parents, we might not like to nurture this because it diminishes one's authority. A thinking child is a less obedient child. But the wider picture is that we're growing a generation of people who think, who criticise, who argue and who reason. This is very important because as technology continues at a fast pace, society has to make sure it is ready to fight ma- nipulation. In whatever form it comes. As technolog y continues at a fast pace, society has to make sure it is ready to fight manipulation Manipulation - a challenge today and tomorrow Evarist Bartolo Evarist Bartolo is Minister for Education and Employment MORE INFORMATION An alternative option to study... IT'S NEVER TOO LATE T O R E - O P E N Y O U R D O O R T O B E T T E R E M P L O Y A B I L I T Y The study courses are open to all adults. Space is limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Applications close on the 31st October. Want to know more? Contact us on 2398 7518/7161 or join us at the information session that will be organized on Monday, 21st October, at 5:00pm at Students Hse 2nd Floor MCAST, Paola. English, Maths, Maltese & IT. Each course lasts 27 weeks with a total of 54 learning hours - MQF Level 2 or 3. Lessons will be held in the mornings (10am – 12pm) or in the afternoon (5pm – 7pm).

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