REFLECTION
For my source material, I used YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok; these are the three platforms from which I took information and inspiration, gathering information to illustrate my topic. My topic was going to be about how we live in a world where, for most things, it feels like we are being lied to. We aren’t sure who to believe or what is real. It’s a constant spiral of being skeptical about what goes on. The inspiration I got from TikTok was about the most common and uncontroversial things. I understand my topic can be sensitive to others’ beliefs as I discuss government conspiracy theories. From my research, I gather the following: the moon landing was fake, Area 51, the Illuminati, the government, AI/robots, etc. I found many conspiracy theories. From the theories I mentioned, I just rearranged them as I pleased; there wasn’t a specific order to why I arranged them the way I did; I just went with the flow.
The purpose of the material I gathered was to show that there is widespread distrust worldwide about whether information can be true or false, or whether it is expressed with extreme bias. All of this overwhelming information can then be confusing to us. I used different conspiracy theories so that whoever is watching might reflect on all the speculation happening around us as we speak. With a disclaimer, I am not saying that what I have chosen to illustrate is true information to believe, but it’s just a glance at the views of others. In the end, my purpose was to question who to trust these days, as we live in a world where the media consumes us in numerous ways, copying, pasting, and modifying information to align with anyone’s opinion.
I accomplished my purpose by gathering different types of media that would help people know where they are from, or at least understand the basic idea of where these videos are from. I grabbed images from YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok to create a remix that illustrates the main idea. I demonstrated the conspiracy theories and how some of this information can be unreliable, as it is often circulated so easily. So the images demonstrate a repetition of ideas that have circulated over the years, to show how much information has been conflicting, not knowing whom to trust or what to believe online.
I decided to go with YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok because they are accessible and very influential among many people. These are platforms that demonstrate how quickly information can spread, and many people consume this media without even thinking twice, whether it’s true or not. Also, these are the platforms that many people consume conspiracy theories from. These are just common apps that are easy to reference without people being confused about where I got them, because I’m sure everyone has TikTok, YouTube, and even Pinterest.
The way I illustrated my material isn’t a specific structure; it’s just one in which I felt the concepts were conveyed correctly or appropriately, and it also made it a little confusing because that’s how conspiracy theories are. They’re confusing in ways that you don’t really understand, and there’s no context behind it at times, and it’s up to you to have an interpretation of what they want it to be. So I structured it so the viewer could have their own perspective on the information being presented because that’s how people find information when scrolling through TikTok. They’re consuming the information with no context, which makes it difficult to understand what is true and what is not.
My text is original becauseI didn’t just copy the material, I made it into something new, I transformed. I took different ideas and created new meanings, so the viewer could understand my message about the distrust and questions that go on in the world.
No, my use of the material I found isn’t necessarily plagiarism because I am not using it as my own ideas; rather, I’m using it to transform a concept and inform viewers about the mistrust we have in our world. Rather, I created a remix. The purpose of the original video is to make a statement.
SOURCES:
Awaken Zone. “Area 51 Mystery | Bob Lazar (DOCUMENTARY).” YouTube, 27 Apr. 2024,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLxdMmB3yI4
Brandenstein, Abby. “Horror Gif with Sound.” Pinterest, 24 Jan. 2026, pin.it/4sRfEVtwd Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
“Don’t Look up / Leonardo Dicaprio Gets Angry.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99-t5OvSbk.
Hajj, Wael El. “Triangle Gif Aesthetic.” Pinterest, 3 Nov. 2025, pin.it/19RoCNWUW. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
How to Survive Show. “AI Predicts the Great Reset.” YouTube, 1 Oct. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-gnCQbhfM. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
“Pinterest.” Pinterest, 2025, pin.it/5FGuQSB6L Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
“TikTok – Make Your Day.” Tiktok.com, 2026, www.tiktok.com/t/ZT9JSN4CH5EmD-kUtpb/ Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
“TikTok – Make Your Day.” Tiktok.com, 2026, www.tiktok.com/t/ZThmYPM98/ Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.