I believe one of the most detrimental aspects of modern society is our polarization to media sources that feed us information we want to hear, information that we agree with. I think this is a side effect of living in a world where information is made instantly available to us. We can easily search the internet for information we want to see, and most importantly, we can hear or read that information from a perspective which we support. I believe this is one of the most prevalent examples of confirmation trap, and it is dangerous to us as a society because it can divide us apart. Family and friends close to me know that in my heart, I am just another conservative Southerner. Throughout high school and even during my first year of college (not at USNA), I was often drawn to sources like Fox News that reaffirmed many of the ideas I considered to be true or correct. I found this to be comforting, why would anyone want to be told what they think is …show more content…
My closest friends call various parts of the country home - Montana, California, Michigan, Texas, and even my home of Georgia. The experiences, viewpoints, and slang of my friends seems to always surprise me (my friend from Montana even used to call bottled drinks, pop instead of soda but has since stopped because of social pressure). On a more serious note, there viewpoints have challenged me to expand my own. Compared to three years ago, I see the world in a completely different light. Whereas before I saw a situation in which maybe a man could do something better than a woman, I now see the situation differently. We all have the same abilities and gender doesn't define who you are and what you can accomplish in life! This is just one particular example, and I could go on to describe many more but I think my message is clear. To be honest, I am proud of myself for growing up, and I am ashamed of opinions I once
World War Two is one of history’s darkest times. Many countries were hiding information from other countries and even their own people, including America. America had many secrets during World War Two that were very recently made public.
FOX NEWS’s credibility has even hit a “record low”. In a public policy poll in 2013 it states,”Fox News has hit a record low in the four years that we’ve been doing this poll. 41%of voters trust it to the 46% who do not. To put those numbers into some perspective the first we did this poll, in 2010, 49% of voters trusted it to 37% who did not”. FOX NEWS’s use of “strong-loaded” words and publishing of misleading reports, people tend to view them as conservative.
The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it
These news outlets, as well as talk radio, at least get people involved in the political world and drive conversations. Many who watch or listen to them have other sources from which to gather information, such as their local newspaper. For every disparaging remark made about my choice of news outlets, I can find 10 more to counter the remark anywhere on the web. For example, Rush Limbaugh said that Bartlett has now gone over to “the dark side.” Another example is from The Christian Science Monitor, “Fox News was among the top four outlets cited as people’s main source of news.” For a 19 year old actively involved and working college student, I do not have the time to find and read scholarly papers because any and all elections would be over by the time I did. In the meantime, I will continue to listen more to the news radio and read news websites while discerning what is actually news and what part is for entertainment
The perpetuation of misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting effects even after it is discredited. For instance, if an audience is reliant on the information provided by the media to make an informative decision about a topic involving their morals, the validity of the author’s claims will determine the mass majority of their decisions they make in the future. As a result, false information may continue to influence beliefs and attitudes even after being debunked if it is not replaced by an alternate causal explanation.
Growing up, I moved around from place to place. From the suburbs of New Jersey, to the tranquility of the Dominican Republic, to the wilderness of the city. I learned from each of these vastly different places the importance to respect and embrace different personalities, cultures, and lifestyles. I lived in the Dominican Republic from the 3th grade to my sophomore year of high school and there are many things I learned whiles living there. The Dominican Republic is still a very conservative country in many aspects. One of the aspects that I was influenced the most, was DR’s gender roles. As a girl I was expected to act and think a certain way. I couldn’t dye my hair, or paint my nails, or wear makeup before the age of sixteen because if I
The everyday person is easily susceptible to what the media has to tell. The media can tell us put our focus
Ignorance due to inability to spot biased is a monumental issue in the U.S. In 1984, people did not have an option on who or what to believe. They were all required to watch a Two Minute Hate so they would dislike what the Party wanted them to dislike. The people could only see what the Party wanted them to see as no other channels they existed. In fact, the telescreens could not be shut off at all. Constant exposure to the Party’s beliefs caused people to be biased towards the government’s views. In this country, people hear, watch, and absorb news every day, but they do not always see or hear the presented bias. For example, Fox News is conservative-leaning and MSNBC is more liberal (Garrett 2&3). People who only watch one news channel without acknowledging or spotting the bias tend to accept what they hear as fact without a second thought. Depending on where information is collected or heard, the person forms opinions based on bias rather than facts without realizing the error in their wapithes and become easy to manipulation occurs.
Until I was in eighth grade, I believed I was a republican. Pursuing the ideas thrown in my direction like softballs in a fast pitch game, what it meant to be a republican seemed pretty great. The upper class thriving, spending less and saving more, living for oneself, all making an America that soared, my father could tell me it all, and that was all that I needed to hear. Like a glimmering, sunshiney day, FOX news could play, and I would pretend that everything sounded great. That is, at least, with closed eyes and shuttered ears, only hearing what my dad wanted me to hear. But at this point in my life, I had never had much an opinion of my own. My news sources being seventeen magazine and the supercutesupertrendy quizzes that it consisted
The power and consequently the responsibility of media, especially mainstream, is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. It often sets the agenda amongst the general public and is the reference point for the majority of the discussion surrounding it. For many, what they see and read in the media forms the basis of their opinions on most important topics. Despite warnings not to, many believe that everything they read in the media must be true.
The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact
I believe todays media is controlled by the wealthy liberal minority, Examples of some include television, major internet sites such as Yahoo and AOL. These wealthy liberal minority’s use the media to impose their beliefs by airing programs that can influence perception. Think about it-show enough interracial couples, air enough Police brutality directed at one particular group, give only one side to a point of view and the outcome becomes brainwashing to a certain degree. The perception becomes acceptable behavior, thus the norm. Whoever said, “repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it” hit the nail on the head because it’s essentially true. Controlling what media viewers see and hear is basically re-programming us how to think
I would to sit and read CNN or Fox News, and not feel like I’m being lied to or pulled on one side. I would like just the news. The only way I can at least acquire a firm understanding of something is by reading multiple new sources. For example, if I want to know what is going on with social issues, I will first go to Huffington Post. Then I will go and find one of the main primetime news like CBS, ABC, or NBC news to compare to Huffington Post. The last search I will do is for an extreme conservative news site like Fox News. When I done reading all three articles, I generally have a good understanding of the
Whether it is news channels on the television or whether it is Twitter and Facebook news, the public will always have a way to find out current reports. Since society has become so dependent on technology, a greater amount of individuals get their actual news online and especially through social media. As many of the public know, you cannot trust what people online are saying. Since individuals are so accustomed to getting the news online, many of them tend to believe what they just happen to scroll across on Twitter and Facebook or any other sort of social media. Finding actual facts and truths on the news have become so difficult now, due to all of the millions of different sites and places where we can get our news from. The news online tend to be biased and untrue due to how openly and freely individuals can create their own site and “reports” on current events such as a real news channels would. Social media has just made it more complicated to find the actual accuracy of current events but with enough research, dedication, and using the SMELL test, finding the right information would not be as
The mass media prevents us as human beings to be fully human. Propaganda unconsciously causes the public to act in ways they may not