The mind is a terrible thing to trick
There needs to be relevant benefit to most information to be worthy of taking the time to get the facts right, because misinformation is likely to take hold when you are thinking of something else Your sense of morality, even in the face of being wrong, becomes the real topic even if it isn’t very important to you. The rejection of information almost always is due to a lack of a cognitive effort by people in general. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the main treatment to fix this but there is so much fake information out there it may be impossible for everyone to get the right help. There needs to be some required cognitive testing from early education to college, making this available may help to offer
…show more content…
In the article “Reason and Reality in an Era of Conspiracy” written by Stephen Asma he states that there is too little information sometimes on certain subjects, what then happens is people add to a story in an effort to make it more interesting. However, the worst of the offenders seem to be the “millennial generation” because they hate to be deemed as wrong. They just don’t ever think they have to be. The ideal way to assess this problem would be to require some sort of logic test or class for all students when they enter colleges. These courses need to be given by people that are trained in logical thought (Asma “Reason and Reality”). Conspiracy theories mainly start with the information the public hears or sees through sources like newspapers, television and the internet, however, is not solely there responsibility to stop …show more content…
One cure that can be administered by teachers is too simple to provide more information on the subject at hand. Another cure may be to add more sources, therefore, reducing the psychological malfunctions that filters out much of the information by source instead of by integrity (NPR “Fake or Real”). Eli Pariser describes this best “filter bubbles”, in this Ted Talk and states that “lives are being insulated from an opposing viewpoint” that shelter us from alternative opinions. He explains. “Some of these problems that our fellow citizens are having kind of disappear from view without our really even realizing”. The invention of fake news has exposed a much deeper problem that he called a “crisis of authority” (Pariser). When people’s belief systems are hindered in a way that secludes information, as in places such as North Korea, they become hard to correct. Having no alternatives. Most will follow what is being said as truth. Also being stuck in the “information bubbles” online many will not see the true information needed to form an accurate argument (NPR “Fake or Real”). From stories of bad sources and fake news to conspiracies and psychological retraining nothing seems to be worse than just outright deception. This is explained by author Eli Pariser and he lends even more insight to this problem in the Ted Talk, “filter bubbles”, in this
Conspiracy theories are entertaining for many to speculate and demand a great deal of thought to constitute. A conspiracy theory is defined as the idea that many important political, economic, and social trends are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public (“The Definition of Conspiracy Theory”). Many conspiracy theories are thought up around children’s shows, which offers a feeling of nostalgia and pleasure. A few children’s show conspiracies that need a deeper light shone on them are from Max & Ruby (2002-2013), Winnie the Pooh (1977), Rugrats (1990-2004), and All Grown Up (2003-2008).
This section was given in order to show why conspiracy theories are appealing to the average person and how anybody can create one. Next, research data on the general personality and mental state of conspiracy theorists was introduced with believers being more likely to be cynical and have low self-worth (Koerth-Baker 343). Afterward a brief explanation is given on the amygdala, a part of the brain which activates after fear is felt, and how it is crucial to the creation of the various theories we have today. There has also been research showing a correlation between theorizing and strong support of democratic principles due to the fact that conspiracy theories wouldn’t exist without real conspiracies coming to light (Koerth-Baker 344). Then, Koerth begins to talk about how an abundance of available knowledge on the internet has made destroying conspiracy theories even more difficult due to the constant use of confirmation bias. In 2006 scientists discovered an event called the “backfire effect” where any attempts to debunk a theory makes it more popular to the people, but the effect seems more noticeable when it supports a worldview or ideology (Koerth-Baker
...articular. Understanding why one is not warranted in believing certain conspiracy theories will make it easier to understand why we ought to believe other things. It also gives reasons to believe that some conspiracy theories will certainly have plausibility to them. Keeley goes through with this analysis by discussing the problem of trying to define UCTs, and illustrating the challenges for finding criteria for distinguishing good theories from bad ones. He then highlights values of UCTs that make them particularly attractive and explain their popularity. He also discusses the grounds for rejecting these values, as they the very reason for UCTs being unwarranted. He discusses how directly confronting UCTs means having to decide between the almost “nihilistic” skepticism and absurdism. He concludes that it is philosophies job to look for an answer to this problem.
Granted, in the present day world, information is easily available to anyone who wants it. Smart phones and computers are able to search through infinite sources to find what they are programed to do. Information is available at people’s fingertips to know the latest news in the world. Although information can be retrieved quickly and plentifully by technology, this information is not always accurate. Technology is unable to be programmed to find truthful sources, or find facts that have any truth at all. Technology looks for any and all information that is
Many of these conspiracy theories have been accused of many scary things. Conspiracy theories have been around for hundreds of years. Now with the technology we have they have been able to prove more of these right. Many people don't believe that these conspiracy theories are real. Some of the biggest Conspiracy theories are the Illuminati and The Mandela Effect.
Many people have no interest in current events in the world or even their own country, and are more concerned about matters that are more trivial, and even if they were to pay a deal of attention, common news sources are often biased and don’t release information that would hurt a certain cause. It is in this way that the citizens are kept igno...
Nour Ellisy 3/11/14 English 10H Ms.Metrakos Annotated Bibliography Entries. Annotated Bibliography Entry Source #1 Nelson Mandela taught us that the humanity all of us share can help us transcend the sins some of us commit. There is no better example of the transformative power of tolerance and reconciliation than Nelson Mandela and his inspiring work in overthrowing the apartheid government in South Africa. He understood the power of words to change minds and the power of peaceful deeds to open hearts. His life reminds us that justice and tolerance can overcome even the greatest cruelty.
“Ignorance of facts” simply means that the education is there but this generation just chooses not to use it. According to one of my sources, 56 percent of 18-to 29-year-olds have low knowledge levels while only 22 percent of 50-to 64-year-olds did. This shows that today’s age knows less than half of what previous generations know. With this much access to education, technology, books and documents that this generation has, the percentile should be much lower than that. In this day and age, people are more focused on social media sites than getting their head in the books. People would rather see false accusations and false information on websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and so forth instead of picking up a newspaper and reading what truly occurred. The world we live in today is nothing compared to past generations. There is so much knowledge in our elders that has failed to be passed on the the youth, it’s nonsensical. Knowledge is power and if we want to help the next generations become more intelligent, we need a great deal of power.
The internet is truly a modern marvel that contains all known information instantly at ones’ fingertips effortlessly. With the rise of the internet American thought has shifted to the point where people assume that all information presented is true. This has led to media outlets posting what their specific audience will read and believe for profit which is also a problem Postman associated with modern television. Ushering in a new age, where the accuracy of information is skewed so it gets attention and goes viral before anyone even checks the facts behind the statement. Television, the internet, and the era of mass media is a devolution of discourse and technology and needs to be reversed by remembering that man invented television and that we need to control it and not let it control
Do you trust memories that feel as real as all your other memories? In reality, they are false. The mandela effect refers to a phenomenon where a large number of people share false memories of past events. It is named after an event at DragonCon where many people all shared the same memories of Nelson Mandela dying prior to 2013, many say in the 1980s. The term was established in 2010 while he was still alive. Mandela effect is very different than many people just sharing a false memory. It is a large number of people that all seem to have not many connections, but when you look back in history it actually never happened.
A parallel universe is said to be identical to ours. In 1954, a young Princeton University doctoral applicant named Hugh Everett III concocted a radical thought: That there exist parallel universes, precisely like our universe. That theory today is a connection to the conspiracy called the Mandela effect. The Mandela effect is a compelling, staggering, and mind-blowing psychological phenomenon that leads to the theory of a parallel universe. The Mandela effect is ironically named after Nelson Mandela, whose death was widely misremembered. Although many facts have surfaced to support the parallel theory and that the Mandela effect is a direct link to a multi-universe, there are also facts that falsify this
Since the beginning of settled civilizations, people have had more mutual sharings than ever before. By the same token, there have been some conspiracy theories that are usually against the culturally accepted beliefs of religions, science and society. A conspiracy theory can be described so differently. However, as in his text, Marshall Brain explicates, a conspiracy is generally defined as a theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act (Brain). Especially, after the new media has become quite popular, more and more conspiracies are theorized every single day, which aim to catch society’s attention via such media tools as the internet, journals and newspapers. Thus, people who theorize those conspiracies tend to use such objects as spiritual and mysterious ones in order to interest people. To illustrate, many examples can be given. For instance, many people have claimed that they were abducted by aliens, although they could show no evidences. Here, a citation from Blackmore could facilitate to understand the circumstance better. She states that people occasionally claim that they have been abducted from public places by aliens, in this case that may provide them with witnesses and affirmations but no evidence could be shown so far (Blackmore). As it is well known, only a small number of people believe such alien abductions, however, rating of this kind of news is quite high on media, because humankind has been wondering if there are extraterrestrial creatures out of the earth. Another example can be conspiracy theories which are about the origins of religions such as the rejection of Jesus Christ. There are some people who pay attention to...
Social media is a revolutionary way to connect to friends and family through a single app much like Facebook. Also allowing the public to be more informed on current events whether that would be an issue in today 's society all the way to a heartwarming story or a funny video. Although this sounds amazing and the fact that this type of news outlet is practically new. An issue arises that involves “fake news” and with that comes many opinions on what to do about it. I believe that people browsing these platforms should have a little bit of skepticism behind each story and if it the topic truly intrigues someone then they should look into the topic on a reliable resource before passing on the authors misinformation.
Fake News is constantly being written, permeating through television broadcasts, internet sites, and magazine articles. It seems that the amount of false news in the world is starting to overtake the amount of genuine information. This is indeed a problem, but not as much as people make it out to be. This is for a few reasons. Fake news is much like bacteria, there are both beneficial and harmful types of fake news. Beneficial fake news is usually
The purpose of journalism is to report a story accurately; simply to tell it like it is. Over the past two decades, with increased tension over political and religious ideologies, the media’s original purpose is being lost. Yes, being well-informed remains an asset in the world today. Our now, globally-focused world will always value knowledge and awareness. With the television, internet, newspaper- all mediums of entertainment- available at the snap of a finger, we have non-stop access to news. One problem with this is the blatant bias of news networks. Every news source has a bias. Viewers typically recognize the platform of the major sources, therefore deterring them from certain networks. When reporters feed viewers the same opinion through different stories, the viewer isn’t getting a balanced intake in terms of overall understanding. In today’s society, viewers are truly at the mercy of what those in authority provide. Think of George Orwell’s 1984 where the all-powerful “Big Brother,” through “The Party” oversees every little piece of information that passes through the telescreen (along with everything that passes by the telescreen on the other end.) The citizens of Oceania are essentially clueless to the truth because they have no access to it. The television: typically a source of entertainment, transformed itself into an instrument for controlling. Yes, the modern technology is