The Four Idols In Bacon And The Four Idols Of The Mass

Countless people have criticized Fox News and CNN for political bias, but recently outrage to media bias has resulted in lasting negative consequences far beyond years prior. Donald Trump has convinced a significant amount of his base to distrust the mainstream media, as evidenced by a Quinnipiac poll that reveals 5 in 10 likely voters believe the media is biased against him (Harper). This number jumps to an incredible 9 in 10 with Republicans. Trump supporters have refused to view media they perceive to be biased, even going so far to chant “CNN sucks!” at a rally in Pennsylvania (“10,000 Trump Supporters”). The resentment of a few news outlets affects not only those news outlets, but how the dissenters perceive the world as a whole. When

Most of this has to do with the fact that fake news is biased. People like and share the information that aligns or confirms their beliefs and disregard the information that does not. According to a recent analysis, “information can bring people together or drive them apart… Fake news is divisive”. On the other hand, real news brings the people who agree even closer and persuades the ones who do not. With fake news ruining the flow of this common ground, people have become more and more divided on certain topics (Donath). One important aspect of society that has been completely bombarded with false information is the Presidential Election. In fact, as election day got closer and closer, the most popular stories were derived from false information (Obama). That is a big problem because as voters were trying to make an educated decision on who to vote for, they were being told information that was not even true. Some people say that fake news could have even altered the election results. But why are people believing all this? In order for a piece of information to change someone's opinion on something, they obviously have to truly believe and buy into that information. False news sources have been working to develop ways to get people to think what they are saying is true. One way to do this is by confusing the viewer just enough to not know what is true. Another way is by making their sites look extremely professional and falsely crediting information to trustworthy places (“Fake News and the Internet Shell Game”). Unfortunately, once fake news is produced and in the public, it can change people's views on the

“Fake news,” like Pravda during Soviet Russia times, was used in the election to deliberately sway the political views of the voters and increase the support of one party’s side. During the election, “phony articles concerning candidates…emerged…this fake news boosted the image of…Donald Trump…” (“Fake News”). "Phony articles” or “fake news” on social media affected the candidates’ images, thus making voters more likely to vote for one candidate over the other. “Fake news” can be dangerous in spreading unreliable information and planting false accusations about a candidate in the minds of the voters. In 2016, a fake news story was leaked about Hillary Clinton that led to a shooting in a pizzeria,“Incidents such as this demonstrate how potentially dangerous fake news can be and how difficult it is to distinguish…”(“Fake News”). “Fake news” can cause people to abandon their initial beliefs about a person, like a political candidate, and align with the opposing side, destroying a person’s career over counterfeit media. "Fake news” is propaganda used to change people’s way of thinking, like both Pravda and Squealer’s role on The Farm. All of these methods of propaganda were substantial resources in changing people’s minds and feeding thoughts into their minds. They can be dangerous if they are not identified as being false or exaggerated, and can

     In "The Four Idols," Francis Bacon discusses the concept of what fundamentally stands in the way of a human using the correct way of arriving upon a conclusion. Bacon believes there are four falsehoods that delay people from uncovering what they need to: the idols of the tribe, cave, marketplace and theater. At first I thought that these idols did not apply to humans at all, but now, after careful consideration, I understand how each idol relates to humankind.

The politically corrupt use fake media to deceive the general population and alter their opinions and views to match what fits their agenda. Another term for this obliteration is “yellow journalism,” and it has been the culprit of many ruined careers and relationships. Yellow journalism is journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. Yellow journalism was a very hot topic back in the 1920’s and 1930’s and it has since then died out, until recently when the current President of the United States, Donald Trump ran for office.

Within these two popular news channels, stories and changes within the government are altered to fit the watcher’s views. While Fox News focuses on the more conservative points of view of the public, CNN places their informative stories in a more Liberal light. Fox news tends to report stories in a one-sided viewpoint, which creates a lack of space for viewers to establish an opinion of their own. CNN reports their stories in more of a broad spectrum and positive light, which allows its viewers to gain more of a perspective in problems that are persisting in today’s society. I believe that, out of Fox News and CNN, Fox News displays the most of muckraking today because it only provides one side of the story, with only personal opinions as their proof. In the past, muckraking was meant to be more a informative style of journalism but as the years went by, many people use yellow journalism as a form of entertainment and way to make money; this journalism has seemed to emerge in other ways and slowly disappear in

Who would have thought that fake news affected the American Revolution.” Franklin composed a fake letter from a real person, naval hero John Paul Jones, that repeated almost word for word the Declaration of Independence.” (Parkinson) The fake news helped the U.S. send message in public that weren't the real thing. “Several other leaders of the American Revolution likewise attempted to manage public opinion by fabricating stories that looked like the real thing.” (Parkinson) As a result of the fake news it help U.S beat the British In the battles V.S them.

For example, Denzel Washington was interviewed because he switches his support from voting for Hilary to Trump. Denzel said, “If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed and if you do read it you are misinformed”. So the reporter asks, “What do we do in a situation in like this?” Washington response was “What is the long term of too much information? One of the effects is the need to be first and not the need to be true anymore, and the media has a responsibility to tell the truth. We live in a society that what’s first and who cares, get it out there, we don’t care who it hurts or destroys or if it is true… just say it and sell it.” According to Hume, he would say that we are “maintaining these customs or habits”(Morris). I believe this is a habit in our society that we are being confirmation biased and that we only want to hear or see what we want to hear. I believe the media is making it easier for us nowadays to sustain these habits because they try to keep us in these filter bubble. Therefore, habits have caused many Americans to elect their candidate based off reports of slander, diverting the people from the real issues that affect them. We must expect the unexpected and take nothing for granted, not even life is guaranteed tomorrow. We must not be ignorant and believe the

The business of the media is to treat us like their slaves and so that we help in believing what is false so that it satisfies them in making them more reliable. Seeing things might not always be a good thing because the media has the ability to manipulate our eyes with all the technology that they are capable of having, “…the prison house is the world of sight…” (Plato 2). The ‘world of sight’ are all the things that we see and can interpret which is the worst thing the media has the ability to persuade because they can turn something real into something that is totally fictitious but to our eyes can seem real. Our eyes are vulnerable into turning into a prison house perceiving all these lies that the media shows us. Plato had many ideas that not only related to reality but the branches of reality and the things we see everyday might not even be real, “…how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads” (Plato 1). The shadows again represent all the lies that media tells us and we can never turn back because since the media is so widespread and everyone believes what they tell us, for the reason that their job is entitled to. The persuasion and effect that it has on humans is ruining the existence of us as a whole because the vulnerable we get the worse the world will get.

An important yet under-discussed issue for our time is the media bias. Everyday free speech is broadcasted across the world but with underlying agendas of communication companies. Many broadcasts engage in the assaulting of political candidates or display of tragedies to prompt viewers to believe the media states the exact truth. However, a majority of people do not decipher the tone and mood of the channels and papers which secretly distribute the opinions of the news company rather than solely the news.

For example, Donald Trump proudly stated that “any negative polls are fake news,” and constantly refers to mainstream media outlets as “fake news media.” To compound the effect, according to MSNBC, a leading Republican Congressman, Lamar Smith, advised Americans to get their news directly from the President because “it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.” The reason why undermining credibility of news media is so scary is that it reduces their ability to hold politicians accountable. With public’s trust in cable news plummeting (all-time low of 32% according to Gallup), more and more individuals are looking for alternative sources online, which makes them more susceptible to fake news, and so the vicious cycle

The news report is so influential and could changes the public opinion in a variety of ways. One way is because individuals feel that they receive more information from news report outlets than on their own. Because of that there is a high level of trust from people in the news on TV. Many individuals place their trust in an organization by saying "I trust CNN because...” as an example, and this allows molding of opinion to happen. Another reason of why the news on TV is so influential is because people know

Although the movie Wag the Dog is a comedy about a completly fake war, written and produced by a top Hollywood producer and a presidential Mr. Fix-It in order to take the focus off of a presidential sex scandel 11 days before the election, it does have a serious message to impart - Don't believe everything you see on TV. Sure, parents tell their kids that the man on TV isn't really dead, it's all fake, and we all know that movies and sitcoms and dramas aren't real, they're written and acted. But we believe the shows not labelled fiction. We watch documentries and biographies and absorb the information as the truth. When we watch the news at 6:00 pm every evening, and read the paper over coffee and breakfast, we believe everything

The speaker, Samantha Bee, states in the video Fake News,Real Consequences that people take fake news to far and way to series. People are believing just what they read and not doing any further research to see if it is true or not. For example, people read fake news about a pizza place and thought that something bad was happening in the basement, so the they shot and killed people. But in reality the pizza place did not even have a basement. Also, People are saying that the are going to do things about the fake news because, they do not understand that the news is fake. Therefore, people are taken fake news as it is real news and it causes problems. Fake news causes real problems and can kill and hurt people. This all happens because people

The recent surge in popularity of social media comes with a price: fake news. Fake news is defined as news or media that has been altered or modified. Journalists have begun to analyze why that fake news exists and why it continues exist. Two authors, Eoin O’Carroll and Kevin D. Williamson, both have written articles about fake news. Eoin O’Carroll’s article “How Information Overload Helps Spread Fake News,” discusses how the media has bombarded us with news stories, blurring the distinct lines between real and fake news. Kevin D. Williamson, a journalist for the National Review, writes in his article “‘Fake News, Media and Voters: Shared Reality Must Be Acknowledged” that the news is not fake; it just does not align with one’s personal beliefs. Both authors successfully appeal to their audiences’ emotions and feelings, but O’Carroll is more likely to succeed than Williamson in persuading his audience to try and combat fake news because the writer presents himself as someone the intended readers will more readily identify with and offers evidence that his readers will find more compelling.