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Are you getting the truth about major events such as September 11, the War in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina? According to the Poynter Institute's Dr. Roy Peter Clark, "The truth is being distorted from all corners, and Americans don't see it, or if they do, too many don't seem to care."
The most powerful antidote to these distortions, Dr. Clark says, is critical literacy. Here are seven things Dr. Clark says you can do to recognize manipulation in government, media, business and advertising:
- Find three political bloggers who represent the right, the left and the middle. Consult them to help you sort through political issues and media messages.
- Look for role models of candor and accountability, people in public life who have proven to be reliable over time. Look especially for folks within a movement or political party who have the courage to speak against the interests of their own party.
- Prefer people who want to have a vigorous conversation to those who want to shout at each other.
- Do not be seduced into thinking that every hot-button issue requires you to be on one side or the other. There may be a middle ground. Don't be afraid to be puzzled or uncertain about an issue. It's okay to be working to make up your mind.
- Get up off the couch. Join a club. Volunteer. Sing in the choir. One way not to be fooled by political or media manipulation is to learn from direct experience, from reality and not reality TV.
- In an age of celebrity culture, try to pay more attention to people for what they do than for who they are.
- Be a skeptic, but not a cynic. A skeptic doubts knowledge. A cynic doubts moral goodness. The cynic says, "All politicians are liars," or "all journalists have a secret bias." The skeptic says, "That doesn't sound right to me. Show me the evidence."
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Those are all good points
Those are all good points except for #2 and #7 which I'm not too sure about. Modern Skepticism is an exclusive club it would seem as one's subjective view of the world must fit into a unspoken and acceptable view of reality. Our current mainstream batch of so-called critically thinking skeptics doubt the 911 Truth movement - mostly because it doesn't sound 'right' and therefore it cannot be true. One can also extrapolate that 911 Truth is essentially a cynics movement due to its natural doubt on the moral goodness of government and the ruling elite. Inherent in their definition of skepticism are thought parameters in place whether desired or not. Also to have a cynic say 'all politicians are liars' frames him as someone who views things in extremes when healthy cynicism would inhibit such thought. Why can't a cynic say something like - 'I think that, based on the evidence and history, that the majority of politicians appear to be dishonest in their work'. Now that statement doubts moral goodness and therefore to the modern "skeptic" its inherently wrong and constitutes wrong thinking. I wonder where our skeptics were when it came to Iraq war or for 9/11? Didn't Bush say that America was attacked because 'they hate our freedoms'? Where was the amazing Rhandi then? Is that not imposing the doubt of moral goodness upon those that attacked? Doesn't that statement make a sweeping and ludicrous generality which doesn't make any frickin sense? Modern and popular skepticism when properly examined only operates within a framework of limited and socially acceptable thought. And as far as Oprah's show went...in the end, I felt that it gave just lip service to issues and to critical thinking in general and really that's all that 45 minutes of Tupperware selling can do.
commentary on numbered points up there
Find three political bloggers who represent the right, the left and the middle. Consult them to help you sort through political issues and media messages.
Read widely and make up your own mind. Who defines left right and middle? Forget labels--understand the issues.
Look for role models of candor and accountability, people in public life who have proven to be reliable over time. Look especially for folks within a movement or political party who have the courage to speak against the interests of their own party.
Beware people who are portrayed by the media as fitting those descriptions. All successful criminals have clean images. And Joe Lieberman speaks against the interest of his own party all the time. What's your point--he's honest? Smart?
Good?
Prefer people who want to have a vigorous conversation to those who want to shout at each other.
I agree with this one.
Do not be seduced into thinking that every hot-button issue requires you to be on one side or the other. There may be a middle ground. Don't be afraid to be puzzled or uncertain about an issue. It's okay to be working to make up your mind.
Agreed as well, but you can't stay neutral forever on some issues, like 9/11 truth.
Get up off the couch. Join a club. Volunteer. Sing in the choir. One way not to be fooled by political or media manipulation is to learn from direct experience, from reality and not reality TV.
Yes, but beware organizations with agendas (and they mostly all have them) Think for yourself and don't shy from associating with anyone. The bigger the organization, the more likely it is not working in the true interest of its purported cause. Also, don't succumb to groupthink because you WANT to like or be liked by a group.
In an age of celebrity culture, try to pay more attention to people for what they do than for who they are.
Sounds good.
Be a skeptic, but not a cynic. A skeptic doubts knowledge. A cynic doubts moral goodness. The cynic says,"All politicians are liars"; or "all journalists have a secret bias" The skeptic says, "That doesn't sound right to me. Show me the evidence."
But don't be a skeptic who rejects the claims of cynics--there is much reason to be cynical these days.
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Real Truther a.k.a. Verdadero Verdadero
WTCdemolition.com - Harvard Task Force