Chapter 5, Facts Can Save Your Life discusses the idea that making sure the information you are receiving is correct because it can affect everything from your health, money and freedom. The example the book talks about is of a man who believed everything he was told, which is pretty stupid. He believed a man about a "get rich quick" scheme and ended up losing everything, including his freedom. These types of schemes are everywhere: in the spam folders of our e mail inboxes, in our mail boxes, on our telephones from scheming telemarketers...it's almost unavoidable to go a day without seeing or hearing from one of these schemes. It is up to us as a public to NOT believe what these people are doing. It is very important to also check and recheck everything that is presented in front of us.
The chapter then goes on to talk about The Grey Goose Effect which is a VERY effective tactic that companies use to make money. Ever since reading about this effect, I have become very aware of things I buy because most of us, when we make purchases, make them based on what a product looks like and not what its true qualities really are.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Chapter 7 - Toxic Sludge
Chapter seven seems to touch on the idea that people in power or people with wealth tend to allow people who are not as wealthy to think they have power when in actuality they do hold the strongest hand as there are strength in numbers and most people in the world are not the powerful and wealthy. The texts talks about politicians trying to gain a position in a government office. The politician looks to people to support him financially through his campaign. These people that support the politician often are wealthy and hold some type of power. However, when it comes down to it, what matters is not the campaigning but the fact that the politician needs to gain votes so the politician needs to be on the same level mentally as those who are not as wealthy and powerful.
The Christian Coalition is an example of one of these types of groups described above. The Christian Coalition is an organization that supports right-wing politics by using a high tech version fo the new direct action organizing tactics pioneered in the 1960s by New Left. The creator, Ralph Reed has become the single most important activist for businesses for Conservative Right-wing political supporters. What Reed calls a "civic lead," his following of 3,300 chapters pushes for Right-wing and conservative values in reference to creating a government that holds these values close to home.
The Christian Coalition is an example of one of these types of groups described above. The Christian Coalition is an organization that supports right-wing politics by using a high tech version fo the new direct action organizing tactics pioneered in the 1960s by New Left. The creator, Ralph Reed has become the single most important activist for businesses for Conservative Right-wing political supporters. What Reed calls a "civic lead," his following of 3,300 chapters pushes for Right-wing and conservative values in reference to creating a government that holds these values close to home.
Chapter 8 (unspun)
Chapter 8: Was Clarence Darrow a Creationist? discusses the idea that even though things we see to be crediable sometimes aren't. The only way that we can be sure of facts are to question them, track them and cross check them. This means that basically we cannot trust everything we see and it is vital that we question facts.
This topic in particular reminds me of the silly infomercials on television that are selling products that claim to be able to do amazing things when in reality, they're poorly crafted pieces of junk that don't and ever work. In particular, the "Sham Wow" claims it can wipe up and hold enough soda that could cause mold underneath carpet. The first time I saw this commerical, I thought wow this is a neat product and then I saw a video clip on a website that tested infomercial products and it turns out the Shamwow wasn't wow-worthy at all. The fact that these people de-bunked the product is an example of checking facts that aren't always credible.
The rules that unspun reveals are: You Can't Be Completely Certain, You Can't Be Certain Enough, Look for General Agreement Among Experts, Check Primary Sources, Know What Counts, Know Who's Talking, Seeing Necessarily Shouldn't Be Believing, Cross Check Everything That Matters, and Lastly: Be Skeptical but not Cynical.
These rules reveal that it is important to examine every fact and it is important to double check. It is also important to know who is talking and just because an idea seems credible, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is. And lastly, the idea of being skeptical is important without looking at the world through cynical and constantly negative eyes.
These are things that I find very valuable, not even just looking at propaganda but life in general as there are always going to be things that seem credible but they're really not.
This topic in particular reminds me of the silly infomercials on television that are selling products that claim to be able to do amazing things when in reality, they're poorly crafted pieces of junk that don't and ever work. In particular, the "Sham Wow" claims it can wipe up and hold enough soda that could cause mold underneath carpet. The first time I saw this commerical, I thought wow this is a neat product and then I saw a video clip on a website that tested infomercial products and it turns out the Shamwow wasn't wow-worthy at all. The fact that these people de-bunked the product is an example of checking facts that aren't always credible.
The rules that unspun reveals are: You Can't Be Completely Certain, You Can't Be Certain Enough, Look for General Agreement Among Experts, Check Primary Sources, Know What Counts, Know Who's Talking, Seeing Necessarily Shouldn't Be Believing, Cross Check Everything That Matters, and Lastly: Be Skeptical but not Cynical.
These rules reveal that it is important to examine every fact and it is important to double check. It is also important to know who is talking and just because an idea seems credible, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is. And lastly, the idea of being skeptical is important without looking at the world through cynical and constantly negative eyes.
These are things that I find very valuable, not even just looking at propaganda but life in general as there are always going to be things that seem credible but they're really not.
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