We cannot see how the person appears from different angles.
We may not even know whether the caption attached to the image is accurate.
That is why context matters.
The internet often encourages the opposite behavior: react first, investigate later.
The most surprising interpretation receives the most attention.
“Man resembles Michael Jackson” is interesting.
“Michael Jackson secretly found alive” is sensational.
Sensational claims naturally attract more clicks.
But being more exciting does not make a claim more accurate.
In fact, the more extraordinary a claim becomes, the more carefully its evidence should be examined.
The Human Side of Going Viral
There is another person in this story who can easily be forgotten: the man in the photograph.
To the internet, he may simply be “the Michael Jackson look-alike.”
But he is also a real person who may have been doing something completely ordinary when the photograph was taken.
He may or may not know that his image has circulated.
