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By Logan Floyd

When scrolling through Facebook Reels, I came across this reel from an account named Triggeredtessoffical that talked about the recent, much talked about story of a Venezuelan gang that allegedly took over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. According to this video, the person claims that city officials have confirmed the story, and then goes on to show a Fox News clip, where a guest claims that the gang has taken over several complexes, and that the Mayor had stated on Fox News earlier that three properties had been taken over by this gang, committing violence against the complexes staff.

When first watching this reel, something about the video already seemed skeptical. The first thing was the AI voice. Whenever I come across a video that uses an AI voice, it usually means the creator pumps out video content constantly, meaning that they probably throw these videos together quickly and do not actually try and corroborate their stories with actual, legitimate sources. The second red flag was the account itself. Firstly, the name: Triggeredtessoffical. When hearing this, the word 'triggered' immediately makes me think that the account comes off as a rage clickbait account that gets easy views and likes by playing into the emotions and political opinions of people. When clicking on the account profile (which comes from Instagram and was reposted to Facebook Reels), the account proves this initial thought. All the posts are very clickbait-centric, mostly being biased, far-right leaning videos.

Even with this heavy skepticism from the videos presentation and account content, I had to put this bias aside and find out if this story is true or not. Sometimes, even the most rage-bait and clickbait account will post a story that is true.

First, I went to Google and typed in "Colorado appartment". Right away, a bunch of news stories popped up regarding this takeover of apartments in Aurora. When looking at these articles, it is shown that the poster of the video I originally saw was streamlining this issue to make it worse, when there has been more said that make this story different. According to an article from Newsweek titled "Cops To Clear Apartments 'Overrun' With Venezuelan Gangs" by Billal Rahman, published on September 2nd, 2024, when quoting Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, it is stated that "'This will require a municipal judge to issue the order with the goal of getting these properties back under the control of the property owners,' Coffman said in a post on Facebook," (Rahman). With this, the statement from the original video of Mayor Coffman saying (again, MAYOR COFFMAN saying, important to note for later) that the gang has taken over apartment complexes and want to give control back to their owners is true.

This article also shows, however, that there is a whole other side to this story that is completely overshadowed. According to the article, "Aurora Police Department Interim Chief Heather Morris said in a statement on Friday that 'gang members have not taken over' the complex. 'I'm not saying that there aren't gang members that don't live in this community,' Morris said. 'But what we're learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex,'" (Rahman). With this, it is clear that the Aurora Police Department has done some sort of investigations into the apartment complex, and has found that, while there are gang members there, they have not taken over the entirety of the apartment complex. This also shows that there are two sides to the officials in the city. The statement from the original video that city officials have confirmed the story is not entirely true, as only certain officials had confirmed it (really just the mayor) while the entire Aurora Police Department have said that, while there are gang members, the claim that the entire apartment complex is taken over are not true.

With all of this, it is proven that, although some of it is truthful, a lot of this story was twisted and looked over important details to understanding the whole story. More than anything, fact-checking this story from the Facebook Reel shows the inaccurate stories that can be thrown out so easily and frequently to the point that people on the internet believe it. In todays world, it seems like there are growing numbers of people who believe anything that is told to them without looking into the story further to see the conflicting evidence regarding these stories. We all should be able to look at viral stories and, instead of letting our insecurities and emotions about things run our beliefs, do our research and objectively find out the facts.

#PreviousWork #DoctoredNews #Aurora #Colorado #FoxNews #ViralStories #Clickbait #Research

Look For Previous Work

By Faith Ortega

While scrolling through reels on Instagram the other day, I stumbled across a heartwarming yet unbelievable video. The roughly minute-long video centers around three dogs named Monty, Ginny, and Porter. But these aren’t your average dogs. Monty, Ginny, and Porter have the human-dominated ability to drive a car.

As the video explains, the dogs were pulled from shelters and allowed to learn to drive through a 47-day training program. Why shelters? Well, the experiment was intended to prove that dogs of all backgrounds are intelligent. The dogs were given modified cars with special ignition switches, steering wheels, gear levers, brakes, and accelerators. Initially, the dogs were trained indoors with a trainer dragging a small car seat simulator. Eventually, all three dogs were transitioned outdoors and completed competent driving tests while on live television. The dogs could successfully start the car, change gears, accelerate, turn, and park.

Now that you’ve seen and heard the full story, you can understand why I was extremely skeptical. At first, I felt moved and uplifted by the video. Such a strong emotional reaction, however, reminded me to “check my emotions”. One key step when fact-checking is to “check your emotions” by disregarding any strong feeling a piece elicits and therefore avoiding any built-up bias. So I pushed my feelings of excitement and joy aside and began a simple fact-checking procedure.

The fact-checking method I worked with was looking for previous work. After watching the video, I jumped onto Google and typed “Were three dogs taught how to drive?” After digging for a few minutes, I found a reputable news source confirming the incredible dog-driving tale.

Forbes: Those Three Clever Dogs Trained To Drive A Car Provide Valuable Lessons For AI Self-Driving Cars

In a Forbes article published on February 8, 2020, by contributor and machine learning expert Dr. Lance Elliot, Elliot confirms the training process of the famous driving dogs. The article clarifies that Monty, Ginny, and Porter were revealed to the world in December 2012 after being trained to drive by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The article states, “You might be wondering whether it was all faked…The dog driving feat was not faked. Well, let’s put it this way, the effort was truthful in the sense that the dogs were indeed able to drive a car, albeit with some notable constraints involved” (Elliot). Elliot goes on to explain that with the help of “specially equipped driving controls”, “specialized training on how to drive”, “foc[us] on distinct driving behaviors”, and “driving on command”, the dogs were able to technically drive a car (Elliot). Now equipped with the confirmation of New Zealand’s driving dogs, I feel safe taking joy in watching Monty, Ginny, and Porter operate a car. If you’d like to watch these canines in action, I’d suggest visiting the SPCA’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDrivingDogs/videos

#fact check #drivingdogs #previouswork

Sometimes, I forget I’m a painter… Back to oils, it’s been awhile… Back to Black people, it’s been awhile… - #art #blackart #tbt #previouswork #artistsoninstagram #portraits #figuredrawing #adorahorton https://www.instagram.com/p/CfiDIKoujde/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#art #blackart #tbt #previouswork #artistsoninstagram #portraits #figuredrawing #adorahorton