There's a real problem as well as a perception problem in the media. Fox News is just an easily recognized example. But while errors in editorial oversight due to laziness or bad judgement are extremely bad, purposeful spinning, skewing, and propagandizing are much worse.
is to hold the government accountable through criticism, investigation, etc. This is the same complaint people in power have had throughout history. If you've taken a public position, you can expect a great deal of scrutiny, fair or unfair.
Unfortunately, in the US, a relatively recent effort by politicians to organize and fight media oversignt was highly successful. Most people still do believe in an inherent liberal bias in mainstream media, since it was the conservative party that was the promoter of this thinking at the time. (The exact same arguments can and have been raised by liberal interests at various points, but not with as much success. Studies on bias in the media are completely inconclusive, either proving or disproving it, largely depending on who is funding the study. I tend to believe that the media is just inherently anti-government, regardless of party, because of its duties as the fourth estate.)
Nowadays if the media isn't sacrificing objectivity or factual information to provide a "more balanced" product, it is either completely asleep at the wheel, or purposefully distorting information in the other direction...yeah Fox News, I'm looking at you disapprovingly right now. Is it any wonder that there has been a migration of the press to the internet, since there are so many legitimate complaints against the mainstream media these days? This is nothing more than a deliberate (and smart) strategy by government to further shield itself from scrutiny.
This is not anything surprising, and is not limited to those tubes on the internets. As people are constantly bombarded with spin or outright falsification, it becomes increasingly difficult to actually discern what is legitimate, objective information from what is not.
Mass media constantly and actively subverts peoples' critical reasoning skills in order to convince them to buy an item or believe a statement based on limited or dubious claims. They purposely subvert and abuse data in order to create pseudo-scientific claims of validity. Corporations and political parties are especially guilty of this.
But it extends much deeper when fundamental research is compromised in an effort to build data for a claim. Think tanks, R&D labs, and even research units at universities are often funded by organizations with an inherent conflicting interest in the objective conclusions of the research conducted.
With so many competing and conflicting claims of validity, the decision to be an idiot is a rational statement on utility. When actually getting to the bottom of some claim, weighing evidence on multiple sides, and making judgements on their validity becomes excessively time-consuming or difficult, it is much easier and better to just go along for the ride.
Everyone does this, to a certain degree. You have to find some source of information that is trusted, since it is impossible to independently verify every claim you see. But outside of incredibly boring peer-reviewed scientific journals that often bear little impact on peoples' daily lives, almost every other source of information from CNN to Fox News can have significant questions of trustworthiness, bias, or objectivity raised against it.
It's almost miraculous when people can work out ingenious ways to actually wade through all of the crap with any degree of success at all, such as Google searches or Wikipedia. Make no mistake, civilization and progress are intimately connected to the ability for mankind to learn. Truth is under a relentless unresting attack by organized interests.
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Reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Stephen Colbert
..of Warcraft.
This is not anything surprising, and is not limited to those tubes on the internets. As people are constantly bombarded with spin or outright falsification, it becomes increasingly difficult to actually discern what is legitimate, objective information from what is not.
Mass media constantly and actively subverts peoples' critical reasoning skills in order to convince them to buy an item or believe a statement based on limited or dubious claims. They purposely subvert and abuse data in order to create pseudo-scientific claims of validity. Corporations and political parties are especially guilty of this.
But it extends much deeper when fundamental research is compromised in an effort to build data for a claim. Think tanks, R&D labs, and even research units at universities are often funded by organizations with an inherent conflicting interest in the objective conclusions of the research conducted.
With so many competing and conflicting claims of validity, the decision to be an idiot is a rational statement on utility. When actually getting to the bottom of some claim, weighing evidence on multiple sides, and making judgements on their validity becomes excessively time-consuming or difficult, it is much easier and better to just go along for the ride.
Everyone does this, to a certain degree. You have to find some source of information that is trusted, since it is impossible to independently verify every claim you see. But outside of incredibly boring peer-reviewed scientific journals that often bear little impact on peoples' daily lives, almost every other source of information from CNN to Fox News can have significant questions of trustworthiness, bias, or objectivity raised against it.
It's almost miraculous when people can work out ingenious ways to actually wade through all of the crap with any degree of success at all, such as Google searches or Wikipedia. Make no mistake, civilization and progress are intimately connected to the ability for mankind to learn. Truth is under a relentless unresting attack by organized interests.
-
Reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Stephen Colbert
The real villain is the Windows key. Does anyone EVER use this key? How often have you been typing and accidentally hit the windows key? You can't even use backspace, you need to stop, use the mouse, and then get out of whatever menu has just opened.
Oh, and the "any key"...when are they going to finally install that one?
Slashdot Mirror
There's a real problem as well as a perception problem in the media. Fox News is just an easily recognized example. But while errors in editorial oversight due to laziness or bad judgement are extremely bad, purposeful spinning, skewing, and propagandizing are much worse.
'Propagandizing' may not be a word...
Unfortunately, in the US, a relatively recent effort by politicians to organize and fight media oversignt was highly successful. Most people still do believe in an inherent liberal bias in mainstream media, since it was the conservative party that was the promoter of this thinking at the time. (The exact same arguments can and have been raised by liberal interests at various points, but not with as much success. Studies on bias in the media are completely inconclusive, either proving or disproving it, largely depending on who is funding the study. I tend to believe that the media is just inherently anti-government, regardless of party, because of its duties as the fourth estate.)
Nowadays if the media isn't sacrificing objectivity or factual information to provide a "more balanced" product, it is either completely asleep at the wheel, or purposefully distorting information in the other direction...yeah Fox News, I'm looking at you disapprovingly right now. Is it any wonder that there has been a migration of the press to the internet, since there are so many legitimate complaints against the mainstream media these days? This is nothing more than a deliberate (and smart) strategy by government to further shield itself from scrutiny.
This is not anything surprising, and is not limited to those tubes on the internets. As people are constantly bombarded with spin or outright falsification, it becomes increasingly difficult to actually discern what is legitimate, objective information from what is not.
Mass media constantly and actively subverts peoples' critical reasoning skills in order to convince them to buy an item or believe a statement based on limited or dubious claims. They purposely subvert and abuse data in order to create pseudo-scientific claims of validity. Corporations and political parties are especially guilty of this.
But it extends much deeper when fundamental research is compromised in an effort to build data for a claim. Think tanks, R&D labs, and even research units at universities are often funded by organizations with an inherent conflicting interest in the objective conclusions of the research conducted.
With so many competing and conflicting claims of validity, the decision to be an idiot is a rational statement on utility. When actually getting to the bottom of some claim, weighing evidence on multiple sides, and making judgements on their validity becomes excessively time-consuming or difficult, it is much easier and better to just go along for the ride.
Everyone does this, to a certain degree. You have to find some source of information that is trusted, since it is impossible to independently verify every claim you see. But outside of incredibly boring peer-reviewed scientific journals that often bear little impact on peoples' daily lives, almost every other source of information from CNN to Fox News can have significant questions of trustworthiness, bias, or objectivity raised against it.
It's almost miraculous when people can work out ingenious ways to actually wade through all of the crap with any degree of success at all, such as Google searches or Wikipedia. Make no mistake, civilization and progress are intimately connected to the ability for mankind to learn. Truth is under a relentless unresting attack by organized interests.
- Reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Stephen Colbert
..of Warcraft. This is not anything surprising, and is not limited to those tubes on the internets. As people are constantly bombarded with spin or outright falsification, it becomes increasingly difficult to actually discern what is legitimate, objective information from what is not. Mass media constantly and actively subverts peoples' critical reasoning skills in order to convince them to buy an item or believe a statement based on limited or dubious claims. They purposely subvert and abuse data in order to create pseudo-scientific claims of validity. Corporations and political parties are especially guilty of this. But it extends much deeper when fundamental research is compromised in an effort to build data for a claim. Think tanks, R&D labs, and even research units at universities are often funded by organizations with an inherent conflicting interest in the objective conclusions of the research conducted. With so many competing and conflicting claims of validity, the decision to be an idiot is a rational statement on utility. When actually getting to the bottom of some claim, weighing evidence on multiple sides, and making judgements on their validity becomes excessively time-consuming or difficult, it is much easier and better to just go along for the ride. Everyone does this, to a certain degree. You have to find some source of information that is trusted, since it is impossible to independently verify every claim you see. But outside of incredibly boring peer-reviewed scientific journals that often bear little impact on peoples' daily lives, almost every other source of information from CNN to Fox News can have significant questions of trustworthiness, bias, or objectivity raised against it. It's almost miraculous when people can work out ingenious ways to actually wade through all of the crap with any degree of success at all, such as Google searches or Wikipedia. Make no mistake, civilization and progress are intimately connected to the ability for mankind to learn. Truth is under a relentless unresting attack by organized interests. - Reality has a well-known liberal bias. Stephen Colbert
It is real, I've seen the commercial in Wisconsin. And don't forget, the stupid vote is the majority in this country.
The real villain is the Windows key. Does anyone EVER use this key? How often have you been typing and accidentally hit the windows key? You can't even use backspace, you need to stop, use the mouse, and then get out of whatever menu has just opened. Oh, and the "any key"...when are they going to finally install that one?