Constable: Record crowd to attend 'fake news' program

Tonight's "How to Spot Fake News" program at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library will attract the largest audience ever to witness a fake news seminar at that library - period.

The program, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the library, 500 N. Dunton Ave., is expected to draw a crowd of somewhere between 60 people and 1.8 million people.

"Understand that the room might be full," warns Jennifer Czajka, the library's exhibits manager, who says the staff will remove tables if necessary to accommodate as many people as the room can hold safely, which is closer to 60 than it is to 1.8 million. The subject clearly piques interest.

"We are thinking of ways to get a more constant flow of information about this topic to people," adds Elizabeth Ludemann, a specialty information services librarian, who will be leading the program along with Alice Son, a teen adviser at the library, and digital services advisers Lev Kalmens and Annette Bochenek.

The event is in such demand because fake news, which used to be confined to Weekly World News' updates on the whereabouts of Bat Boy, has spread beyond the supermarket tabloid.

"We noticed it was becoming more and more of an important topic we wanted to address," says Sydney Jarol, programs and exhibits coordinator at the library. "We weren't 100 percent sure what the response would be. Once we got the word out, the numbers rocketed."

Last fall, fake news stories - such as ones about the pope endorsing Republican Donald Trump for president, or his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS - were shared by millions of Facebook users, same as stories about real news with actual facts.

This past weekend, Americans were introduced to a new spin on fake news - "alternative facts." White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the crowd at the inauguration of our 45th president was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration," in spite of photographic evidence, mass transit numbers and TV ratings that all showed higher numbers for President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009. NBC's "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd called that claim a "falsehood," while presidential senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said Spicer gave "alternative facts."

Alternative facts don't have to be outright lies.

For instance, it is the gospel truth that I had won as many Pulitzer Prizes by the time I reached my 21st birthday as The New York Times' star columnist trio of Paul Krugman, David Brooks and Gail Collins have won combined throughout their long, distinguished careers. I also would bet every unicorn I own that my hands are significantly bigger than Collins' hands. Not only that, but the editor for this column already has as many Super Bowl touchdowns as Bears great Walter Payton and needs just one more World Series home run to move ahead of the career series total compiled by Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg.

See, it's easy to be factual and misleading at the same time if you know how to use facts. But fake news uses more tricks.

"Information is now appealing to your emotions," Ludemann says, noting that tonight's program will look at social media, websites and even memes. "Everybody is going to walk out with a toolbox to evaluate research on their own."

"The best search engine is the librarian," Czajka says, quoting an adage of the American Library Association. She urges people confused by the difference between news and fake news to reach out to their local libraries.

The Arlington Heights Memorial Library already is scheduling another program about fake news for March 23.

"Who knows what will evolve between now and then?" Czajka says.

If you do show up at the library tonight and can't get a seat, I'd advise you to swing through the fiction section and check out a copy of George Orwell's "1984," which defines "doublethink" as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them."