"You Can't Put Anything on the Internet That Isn't True."

So says the girl from the State Farm commercial before she walks off with her date, who is clearly not the "French model" he pretends to be on the internet. While of course we know that people DO put false information on the internet every day, sometimes it can be surprisingly difficult to sift through all the facts, headlines, and blurbs that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. On one hand we don't want to be the super skeptic person who can't hear or read anything without pulling a "Really? Did that happen? Did it?" On the other hand, we don't want to be the gullible child who ends up on a date with the most repellent "French model" ever.

Taken from: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7VOE/state-farm-the-internet-and-french-model

Now, let's take this same idea and rewind about 200 years. The year is 1811, and "A Lady" has just published her first novel. Originally an epistolary work titled Elinor and Marianne, Jane Austen's maiden novel Sense and Sensibility confronts the same problems we have today: what can and cannot be believed?

A letter signed by one character is actually written by another. Another character believes for 10 minutes that she is witnessing a proposal when, in reality, the man "proposing" is just making a business proposition. For the characters in the novels, both their eyes and ears can deceive them. Written word can be fallible, and sometimes the most correct accounts come from petty gossip. Austen plays beautifully with the issue of evidence, sometimes pulling the wool over her characters' and her audience's eyes. Now I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wishes to read it, but the next time you find yourself pouring over its pages, try and notice how Austen weaves a tangled web  of truth and lies--and it's up to the characters to try and tug on the right string. 

So as to what you can believe in the world, I still have absolutely no idea. As a person who hates confrontation, I tend to lie more on the accepting/"gullible" side of the spectrum. That being said, I can usually spot a falsity pretty well, but no one's perfect. I would just advise not getting 100% behind anything until you have done specific research, and even then, be mindful of the integrity of your sources. If you're looking up the pros of becoming a vegetarian on a website titled something like "Eating Meat Sends You Straight To Hell", you've probably got some rather biased information on your hands. A good life rule: proceed with caution.