I heard early this morning from a staff member that Mose Allison, one of jazz’s great players, had passed away.

Of course, we check information before we post or publish it, and from what I could find online, there was a hoax involving Allison’s death that had been on the web several times. This time, though, it appears to be real. Allison, a Mississippi-born musician and songwriter, has died.

Jan Ramsey

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to start or continue a death rumor; there’s nothing amusing or funny at all about that. It just demonstrates how the public can be titillated (and duped) by anyone or anything, especially when it’s posted on Facebook or other social media or internet sources.

This is abominable, really, and it’s a symptom of how media—most especially the internet—has created its own bizarre world that has nothing to do with reality. I’d say that everyone should check their sources, and do a little digging to find out what’s real and what’s not. Frankly, it’s really sad that we have to do this almost on a daily basis in modern society.

How many people actually believe what they see and read online without doing a little background check? Turns out, a lot. I’ve read different statistics; anywhere from 44 percent to 62 percent of all Americans get their news from social media. How reliable is this information? Who knows? The latter percentage was the result of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan American “fact tank” based in Washington, D.C. Sounds reasonably credible. Well, who knows if it is or not?

It apparently doesn’t matter to most people who will believe anything they read on the internet, or worse, stuff that’s circulated via email.

Let’s face it: Many Americans are lazy, entitled and too apathetic (or too dumb) to do their homework. They’ll pretty much believe anything you tell them, if that’s what they want to believe.

Our recently ended Presidential election debacle was certainly evidence of that. Ah, the danger of media and a public that would rather be spoon-fed entertainment and magical thinking by a charismatic leader versus an educated consideration of facts.

I recently met an OffBeat intern applicant who told me that she no longer goes onto Facebook, and rarely looks at her phone. This was sort of amazing because I rarely meet anyone who isn’t glued to their phone or other media from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep (I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising entrepreneur found an effective way to insert messages and ads into our dreams at some point soon).

This is probably the first evidence of an intelligent backlash against an all-encompassing social media that I’ve experienced in a long time. Maybe there’s some hope after all.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. May you use your intelligence wisely in 2017.