Asklemmy

I think it also has to do with how previous generations established what they considered trustworthy or not.

Most of the time, the only way to confirm information would be to go to the library and look it up. Most people weren't taking the time to do that for every little factoid, especially ones that had no direct effect on their lives.

So if Jim who has a cousin who works in construction said that Mexicans were undercutting the expected pay for construction laborers, picking up all the jobs they could, and out performing their peers... well that's first hand information from someone who would know (by way of the game of telephone).

And that doesn't effect them directly in any way, so it's not being blasted to the whole world. You may never know they have this belief.

Now they see Jim on Facebook sharing some article. Well, Jim wouldn't share it unless he was sure it was true. I mean, his cousin works in construction. Combine that with sensational headlines to maximize clicks and now you go from racist belief that immigrants are industrious to "illegal immigrants are stealing our jobs"!

Plus, spreading the word can be done in a single click, regardless of relevance to any conversation.

So you combine the idea of "that person knows what they're talking about" with sensationalism mills and how damn easy it is to blast your stupid ideas out to the world with the idea that you'e just letting people know, and I think you very easily end up here.