Selection Slanting

Not only do scientist observe, but we all observe what’s around us. In the article, “Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language”, written by Newman Birk and Genevieve Birk, they discuss how knowledge is based on facts we perceive along with why we have particular opinions because they’re created from what we remember. I will express and relate to how I feel about each factor that contributes to “process of selection”.
The importance of being wise readers and listeners would probably include justifying certain facts. Not everything we hear, see, or listen to is automatically true. I feel that experience is a major component because that’s when we personally know how something really is. However, it may not be the same for everybody. I believe the authors attempt to get that point across when they

provide an example about three people examining a large tree in a forest. Additionally, those three people had different backgrounds and as a result they were focused on the same object, but didn’t have equal intentions.

The point is not everyone may think, feel, or learn the same way, but most of us gain information through a tactic. Before maintaining insight, it must pass through the screen of a “principle of selection”. Furthermore, the meaning for that is somehow the information needs to be retained before it can be translated into words.
After our knowledge is put into words, the process of slanting can occur. Slanting contains the use of knowledge (fact-based and attitudinal), words, and prominence, to reach the goal of the speaker. When it comes to emphasis, there isn’t an option for dodging it. This section really contributes to my process of selection because I’m always having to argue my points when I run into conflict with someone. I have to explain to my friends that getting my homework done ahead of time is more important than going to a party especially if I need to catch up on a lot of work. We make decisions every day of our lives and have to realize whatever we choose it will have an effect on something else. Also, the choice that was made could have worked out or created a

feeling of disappointment. As said before, slanting can include a variety of statements by providing different impressions such as positivity, collectivity, and negativity. We have a right to be for or against a particular entity. Sometimes I feel that it’s difficult to find balance or to even come to an agreement. However, balanced slanting gives us the availability to offer facts while interchanging likeable and dislikable details so one doesn’t override the other. It basically displays how an object can be good and bad simultaneously. Although, some people’s opinions can be so strong where they just disagree whether a reliable fact is presented. The last part for slanting covers the usage of emotional words. Our opinion can be swayed a different direction just by someone’s rich and precise choice of words. In the article, the authors gave us two descriptions, which the words included in each passage had an effect on our attitude. When I read the first description I had devoted judgments about the girl until I looked at the next passage. I learned that it’s extremely important to know how to phrase words properly because anybody could poorly interpret the meaning. All the factors of slanting then perform with stimulating language to operate communication. Charged dialect may cause issues, but in the long run it has shaped who we are today.
In conclusion, this article was very fascinating and at first I didn’t really understand it. Once I got to the examples and reread them a couple of times, I figured that the information was valuable and correlated to what we do in real life. We may not notice we’re living by half of these principles, but we learn something new every day whether we want to or not.