In this day and age, our culture is surrounded by lies and dishonesty. Throughout the past several decades, the American society has had a harder time distinguishing truths from lies. Our information feeds are infected by the inaccuracy of the information that is vital in developing solutions. However, the constant spread of lies became the foundation of a much more serious and unpredictable nature of exaggeration: bullshit. Harry Frankfurt, in his article On Bullshit, emphasized the notion of bullshit, conveyed its true meaning, and explained it relevance in our culture. Another similar perspective and its role in society comes from TV talk show host John Oliver in “Last Week Tonight.” Oliver stressed that powerful, political leaders, such …show more content…
The main argument and position that Frankfurt has taken is that bullshit has become so normalized in society, particularly in the American society. All individuals, to some degree, have grown tolerant of retaining bullshit. One of the reasons why bullshit is so normalized is because we have a completely different attitude towards it than we do to lying. Frankfurt noted, “In fact, people tend to be more tolerant of bullshit than of lies, perhaps because we are less inclined to take the former as a personal affront” (Frankfurt 12). In agreement, I believe that there is a different, lighter attitude towards bullshit, which should not be the case. Due to the notion that there is a gentler attitude towards bullshit, people tend to bullshit rather than lie. As it becomes consistently more common for people to bullshit, I believe it will become more complicated to revert back to a culture of reliability and trust, values that Frankfurt encourages people to take on. After all, once bullshit is persistent within our information feeds, we will become more receptive to misinformation and information that is filled with …show more content…
More specifically, in the book Mass Communication, Ralph E. Hanson examined the bias within the journalist, media, and political structures within our world today. Often, news reporters have shaped stories in a way that seems to be more attractive and desirable for their targeted audience. This, therefore, can increase the probability of news reporters releasing misinformation due to the alterations of their stories to appeal to audiences. “Fox News commentator Bill O’ Reilly says that part of his network’s popularity comes from its willingness to think about what audience members want” (Hanson 142). According to my interpretation to this statement, biases can potentially be embedded into stories that journalists, or news anchors, share. These stories can, therefore, potentially contain misinformation or disinformation that will attract an audience that are like-minded in respect to the source that is giving out the news. Of course, those who share these biased stories do so unintentionally based on their personal values and viewpoints. This, therefore, connects with Frankfurt’s argument, since bullshitting is the unintentional spread of misinformation. Because people believe news sources to be a credible source of information, we are often more inclined to retain deceptive information, and the biases that come along with
Bias is everywhere in the mainstream media whether it is political, celebrity, or worldwide news. Bias can misinform the public and most of the time leaves the whole story to suit their belief. Bias is when someone is presenting information or talking about a topic but being unfair and not showing the whole side of the story. Media keeps certain information to themselves to not make their belief seem bad but as a good thing. In everyday media there is some form of bias that can be small or big depending on the topic. Of course in today's society it seems that bias is okay and acceptable in the media. However people doing their job are bias and present the information to their beliefs. The public thinks they are getting the truth but media is
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
“The old argument that the networks and other ‘media elites’ have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it’s hardly worth discussing anymore…No we don’t sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we’re going to slant the news. We don’t have to. It comes naturally to most reporters.” (Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News) This example is tremendously important in the author’s discussion because it proves that news stories do manipulate people through bias. Popular news networks are viewed by thousands of people every single day, thus making it have a huge impact on the public since they believe what they see. When news reporters present their news segments, it is natural for them to give their insights due to human nature being instinctively biased. “The news media is [sic] only objective if they report something you agree with… Then they’re objective. Otherwise they’re biased if you don’t agree, you know.” (CNN’s American Morning) In this quote, the readers are presented to current panelists agreeing that news consumers have a very hard time separating their own view of the news from the perspective of the news reporters because they are presenting their own opinions throughout their segments. This problem exists once again because of the bias that is contained in media
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
As John Ruskin once said, “The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.” This essence is debated in “The Ways We Lie”, written by Stephanie Ericsson, and “Doubts about Doublespeak”, written by William Lutz. In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson talks about the different ways people lie on a day to day basis. By comparison, in “Doubts about Doublespeak”, Lutz discusses the different forms of doublespeak that many individuals frequently use. Lutz considers doublespeak as a language that distorts the meaning of words in order to deceive another person, and only “pretends to communicate” (83). Although both authors agree that lying is about the use of deceptive language, Ericsson describes this use of language as occasionally being necessary,
Both Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Way We Lie” and William F. Buckley, Jr.’s essay “Why Don’t We Complain” analyze different ways people use lies to help and hurt themselves in their daily lives and how lies influence American culture. Through personal experience and examples Ericsson showed the way people lie to get what they want or to look more lovely. She showed that it is almost impossible to eliminate lies from people’s lives, how American culture has adopted many lies, and how so much is based on simple, "harmless" lies. In Buckley’s essay, he is uncomfortable that in some situations people do not complain. They could use their complaints to make some change. When people are used to keeping silent avoid problems or waiting someone else to solve the problem.
In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson describes the different types of lies: white lie, facades, ignoring
The media takes a biased approach on the news that they cover, giving their audience an incomplete view of what had actually happened in a story. Most people believe that they are not “being propagandized or being in some way manipulated” into thinking a certain way or hearing certain “truths” told by their favorite media outlets (Greenwald 827). In reality, everyone is susceptible to suggestion as emphasized in the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours.” The
The article “Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant by Sissela Bok also presents the same argument. Sissela Bok presents the ideas and viewpoints of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher. Kant believed that lying was bad and that “truthfulness is statements which cannot be avoided is the formal duty of an individual to everyone, however great may be the disadvantage.” He believed lying was always bad no matter the situation. Kant said that lying “vitiates the source of law,” or makes the source of law weaker. Our whole purpose of the government is to serve justice and if everyone is lying in court, it gets harder to serve justice. The purpose of the government would not be fulfilled if people lie. According to Kant, lying also “harms the liar himself, by destroying his human dignity and making him more worthless even than a small thing.” Kant says lying makes the liar lose his or her pride and honor. And I think it probably makes the liar feel bad and makes them feel guilty. In the article “Teens Do their Share of Lying” by Loretta Ragsdell, a quote from Sabrina, a college freshman, takes about how she lied...
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
In society, some people are looked at as liars or “bullshitters,” as stated in the article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Honesty is not always the best policy, and in certain situations, liars are best not to tell the truth when protecting the innocent, or protecting oneself. Because of this, lying should be looked at as a standard in society and something that people recognize in every day life.
Everyone has been there before, standing around with a group of friends just talking about whatever comes up. No one really directs the conversation, but rather it flows freely. Of course there are always a couple people in that group of friends that have lavish stories, but you somehow seem to doubt pieces of it. Those people are the professional bullshitters. They however aren’t the only ones who do it. You yourself do it, just probably not on the scale of the professional. This paper is about the topic of bullshit or malarkey and what it means to conversation. Bullshit is a form of communicating and it seems preferable over being direct. This essay seeks to explore the purposes of bullshitting as an accepted form of communication through breakdown of the word “bullshit,” and it’s social uses.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
The censoring of violent video games has been a controversial issue since the early 90’s to the present time, and has been growing more and more with the advanced graphics that have been developing each and every year. (Including the fact that people react even more to the unexplained missions that they give in video games). For the good of society violent video games should be banned.
One problem that plagues us everyday without us even realizing it is media bias. We see it in the news. We see it on our favorite sitcoms. We read it everyday in the paper. Yet, we really don't recognize it when we hear it or see it. Media bias is evident in every aspect of the media, yet the problem is that we don't even recognize it when it is right in front of our faces. Are the impressions that we form about individuals a product of the media? Do we form certain opinions about particular types of people based solely on the things we see and hear in the media everyday without even realizing it? The problem is not only that there is media bias present, but also that we can't recognize it when we see it.