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Literature review on misinformation effects
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What makes artifice such an essential skill? In the excerpt from Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges, it is argued that “the most essential skill… is artifice.” Artifice, the act of deceiving people, can be very useful when you want more power or popularity in the world. Many widely known people use artifice to stay rich, popular, and in power. However, artifice isn’t so essential that everybody needs to be a faker in order to succeed. It is true, as Hedges writes, that “Political leaders, who use the tools of mass propaganda to create a sense of faux intimacy with citizens, no longer need to be competent, sincere, or honest.” We are already live in this reality. Donald Trump, our very own President, has been widely accused of making mistake after mistake. Sharing classified information with Russia, talking smack and threatening North Korea, the list goes on. The other day, I even heard that he tweeted about the United Forces being ‘locked and loaded’, implying that we’re ready for nuclear war with North Korea because of this. Despite all of the suspicious actions of the POTUS, people still take his side, claiming he’s America’s saviour. It goes to show how no matter how crazy someone is, …show more content…
Some of your favorite pop stars wouldn’t have the career they have without autotune in the studio. Take Kanye and Iggy Azalea. Iggy Azalea has had a fair amount of success with her songs, but whether she writes her own rhymes or not, you can’t argue that she can freestyle. When asked to freestyle at one of her live concerts, she miserably failed, ending up spouting random gibberish. With Kanye, although his rap skills are high-par, he’s proved he’s not fit for the role of a singer in his performance of Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen. You can name endless more of these consumer culture giants, and may possibly include one of your favorite
Though The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz was written years ago, the idea of materialism, and measuring one's success by their possessions is also a prominent theme in pop culture in the West. Luxurious and excessive lifestyles are in, perpetuated by "blinged out" rap artists and rock stars who own multiple houses, and drive unnecessarily large and expensive sport utility vehicles and sports cars. Pop music has evolved throughout the 20th Century, and has now gotten to a point where it's not just music, but an industry. Singers are actors and vice versa. To make it big in the music industry you not only have to have talent, but a strong business sense, and your own clothing line, of course.
Many people will argue that honesty will make a person go far in life; however, people who practice artifice succeed substantially. Artifice is a clever or artful skill especially used to trick or deceive others. In the excerpt Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges states that,” The most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice.” I profoundly agree with Hedges’ position on artifice.
A president has to have character, right? I mean, if the leader of the free world has no substance, nothing special about him, then how do we as citizens know that he is capable as far as foreign policies go. How do we know that we can trust him to make wise decisions? How do we know that he will tell us the truth? This concept is exactly what fictional president Andrew Shepherd successfully conveys in his “Address to the Press on Bob Rumson and the Crime Bill.” In the movie, The American President, Andrew Shepherd becomes romantically involved with crime bill lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade. Many characters, including Bob Rumson, believe that the relationship between Shepherd and Wade is hindering the advancement of the country. They believe that this relationship shows lack of character, and it is made apparent to Shepherd through the side comments and actions of those opposing him. In the closing scenes of the movie, Shepherd is found defending himself and his character through the form of a rhetorical speech. He convincingly uses pathos to appeal to his audience’s sense of nationality and pride.
Throughout chapter one of Fun Home, Alison Bechdel portrays artifice and art as two very similar but distinct things; both overlapping and making it hard to differentiate between what is what. Art, in her view, is the truth, and a skill that has to be mastered. On the other hand, artifice contains partial, or full, amounts of falsehood; it covers up the truth in some way but contains art in itself. Artifice can be, like art, something mastered, but can also be a coping mechanism to cover up something good or bad. Bechdel turns both art and artifice into a very interlinked, combined, version of the two forms. When truth and falsehood are combined, after awhile, it becomes a challenge to distinguish between the two; evidently true to herself.
Throughout George W. Bush's political career he has implored the use of Aristotle's tripod, which we like to call it. This tripod is a rhetoric which implies that persuasion relies on three things, which are ethos, pathos, and logos. Logos is devoted solely to logic and reason. While on the other hand, pathos deals with attitudes and beliefs. Perhaps the most important one which pertains to George W. Bush is something called ethos, that is to say the branch of the tripod which deals with the personal strengths of the speaker and most importantly his character. Throughout his political journey he has showed the use of pathos, logos, and ethos time and time again, but the one of which he is commonly known for is ethos. The instances in which he has demonstrated them are countless, but I will recall but three. The first event took place on the day of September 14, 2001 at 'Ground Zero', three days after the attack of the World Trade Centers. The third instance was on September 20, 2001 during his Address to a Joint Session of Congress. Lastly, was the State of the Union Address in Washington D.C. Which was held on January 29, 2002.
Donald Trump posted a YouTube video offering President Obama $5 million dollars to produce his collegiate records and individual passport application (O’Connor, C., 2012). When contacted by Forbes magazine in response to this offer, Trump professed that the offer was extended due to the voters knowing so very little about the president’s personal background. Further stating, his motives were in the best interest of President Obama based on the current state of suspicion surrounding his presidency and this would all questions to rest (O’Connor, C., 2012). This is an example of the ad hominem reasoning fallacy and how the persuader focuses on personally attacking the individual (Larson, C., 2013, p. 245). The statements called president’s background and character into question. The objective of persuader was to further discredit the president in the upcoming 2012 presidential election. The response of the president and White House was predictable based on the oppositional views and past responses to other similar claims and requests (Larson, C., 2013, p. 245). Donald Trump committed an ad hominem when he launched a character assassination of President Obama by introducing meaningless perceptions of character flaws in an attempt to divert votes as well as bring attention to his upcoming show (O’Connor, C., 2012).
The president has a significant amount of power; however, this power is not unlimited, as it is kept in check by both the judicial and legislative branches. The president is held responsible for passing legislation that will improve the lives of everyday Americans, even though he shares his legislative powers with Congress. The sharing of power acts as an impediment to the president’s ability to pass legislation quickly and in the form it was originally conceived. However, Americans do not take this into account when judging a president, as they fully expect him to fulfill all of the promises he makes during his campaign. By making promises to pass monumental legislation once elected without mentioning that Congress stands as an obstacle that must be hurdled first, the president creates unrealistic expectations of what he can fulfill during his time in office (Jenkins-Smith, Silva, and Waterman, 2005). A president is expected to have the characteristics that will allow him to efficiently and effectively lead the nation and to accomplish the goals he set during his campaign (Jenkins-Smith et al., 2005). There have been a handful of presidents that have been immortalized as the ideal person to lead the United States and if a president does not live up to these lofty expectations the American public will inevitably be disappointed. Since every president is expected to accomplish great things during his presidency, he is forced to created and project a favorable image through unrealistic promises. The combination of preconceived ideas of the perfect president and the various promises made by presidential candidates during their campaign create unrealistic expectations of the president by the American public.
Throughout history leaders of nations worldwide have utilized different methods of persuasion to try and influence peoples’ thinking or justify their actions. The way a leader addresses a nation is crucial in times of war, hardship, or traumatic events and this may play a role on the outlook of the people. The terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 prompted two U.S. Presidents, George Bush and Barack Obama, to take steps that were meant to protect the American people and U.S allies. Both Presidents waged war, which so far has spanned three presidential terms, on people who were thought to be terrorists and many lives were lost. The purpose of this blog is to examine the methods of persuasion used by both Presidents in their effort to justify their actions and the ongoing need for U.S troops in the Middle East.
Presidents and other people of high power have the ability to do many things that some may disagree with and walk away with very minimal consequences. In the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore, shows how George W. Bush manipulates his power to fool the American people and enter into an unnecessary war. “There are some who feel like that if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don 't understand what they are talking about if that 's the case... There are some who feel… that they can attack us there. My answer is bring 'em on.” Bush creates a sense of fear among the American people that the nation is under attack, but is very patriotic and confident to the point that Americans will trust him. Moore shows that the war is pointless and invading Iraq does not make sense. In the film, Moore goes around D.C. and asks senators and other officials of congress to sign their child up for the war and none of them signed the forms. That clearly shows that members of the government do not support and want their children in a
If this President lived in the real world or had any honest intentions for the nation, he should spend the next year explaining his first three years of bizarre behavior. Routinely, he bypasses Congress and rules this country by executive order, then delegates this usurped power to government bureaucrats. One must wonder; is he truly as inept as he appears or is it all part of his long range planning to collapse the system and place himself in position to wield powers that are even more dictatorial?
This is the essay for any person with open-minded views has been begging to write for the sake of their sanity, on the subject. This is due to the fact that incivilities in the media are always present anymore. These, are described in the book, In Your Face Politics, by Diana Mutz. She explains the problems put forth with having views yelled, ranted, and crammed into the face of the public. She, postulates the idea, that these overt opinions cause confrontation, with people that have opposing viewpoints. So with that, given the opportunity to express an opinion on a candidate with opposing viewpoints will give a person great satisfaction. Here is a chance to explain why, Mr. Donald Trump, is a fear mongering, under educated force and what that means for the American public.
In this day and age, pop music dominates the airwaves at every turn. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and many others are commonplace names among teenagers and younger demographics not only in the United States, but all around the world. The United States has accepted the position of international, cultural role model long ago, dating back to the 1950’s when rock and roll caught fire as a hybrid of blues, country, and jazz and spread to the rest of the world almost infectiously. Since then, every major artist that comes out of the United States has easily become a global icon, regardless of the language or nationality of their adoring fans. However, one could conceive that this glamorized version of music comes less from the soul of the artist and is merely born of fiscal ambitions and visions of grandeur.
...ancial Times stating, “The bottom line here is that Americans don't believe in President Obama's leadership. He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can't think of how he could do that.” When the president is popular and integrity of the Executive branch is high, the President can lead public opinion on specific issues. When the factors are low, generating support can be a challenge to overcome and they may engage in strategies (major policy speeches, bold policy initiatives, raising public awareness on national security) to increase popularity, competence, and prestige. We see many of these strategies now as the President campaigns for a second term and also in his running mates as they try and sway public opinion during their bus tours.
Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People
Society relies on political leaders to make the right choices and protect the citizen. Many times, political leaders can become corrupt and abuse their power. For example, people might put their trust into a president but ultimately have that trust broken by something like the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate Scandal refers to several scandals involving President Nixon and committee members close to him from 1972 to 1974. Nixon was secretly taping white house conversations and stealing documents. On an early June morning in 1972 several people were arrested in connection with Nixon. Although the president’s actions did not come to light for another two years, Society’s view of political leaders changed. Americans were shocked when his actions were revealed, “Although Nixon was never prosecuted, the Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leadership and think more critically about the preside...