The Problem with Believing What We’re Told

Post by notduncansmith » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

atoav wrote: post #34

rntz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The conclusion of this WSJ piece [...] is that we need better media literacy. > My conclusion is the opposite: we need better reputational and accountability systems and institutions. I've noticed that on issues that provoke strong feeling, folks often put things in opposition that really aren't opposed. This is a great example. These aren't opposites. They're simply two different approaches to the same problem. Th…

Furrhermore I’d argue that media literacy is a critical skill nowadays. However the conclusion is also true: there needs to be a national press agency which acts independently and is allowed to issue fines and force corrections on factually false statements. If a newspaper lies about something, they have to print the correction on the front page. If the front page has not enough space, tough luck.

Post by AstralStorm » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 3:24 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #15

Something very important with reading news: you have to understand reported speech. If you see "a spokesman for the president says the moon is made of green cheese", and that spokesman did actually say that, that passes a fact check . The fact that the moon is not made of green cheese is not considered to be in the remit of journalism.

Post by jazzyjackson » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

johnnycab wrote: post #81

JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #70

I think a lot of people don't really care or want to know what is going on in the world, they prefer watching "entertaining" high speed car chases, tornado reports, animal rescues, special guest "experts" that shout ideas over one another, and whatever other wild things the news can come up with these days. I'm in Poland right now, the latest "big" news was that the son of some rich guy died jet skiing and that a thu…

>I'm in Poland right now, the latest "big" news was that the son of some rich guy died jet skiing and that a thunderstorm killed some people in the mountains, not the crisis in Venezuela or protests going on in Hong Kong. I recommend Anchorman 2, if you haven't watched it already, great comedy and commentary about the state of the current news. I was with you when you offered a critique of the news-cycle and the bana…

Post by atoav » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 9:58 PM UTC

notduncansmith wrote: post #82

atoav wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Furrhermore I’d argue that media literacy is a critical skill nowadays. However the conclusion is also true: there needs to be a national press agency which acts independently and is allowed to issue fines and force corrections on factually false statements. If a newspaper lies about something, they have to print the correction on the front page. If the front page has not enough space, tough luck.

This sounds like an initiative I’d hold signs for in the street, if there were an actual plan for it. How do we make sure this agency doesn’t become a cudgel for the government to wield for itself? Who gets to run this ministry of truth?

Post by 50656E6973 » Wed, Sep 04, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #39

50656E6973 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Once you start looking for such patterns, they become painfully apparent. Wouldn't it be great if we could help train others to be able to do that too?

It's taken me most of five decades to pick up the skill. That bodes poorly for generalised skillsets. There's a generalised rebuttal to calls for greater intelligence / education as a solution to problems: All the children aren't above average. And if your solution to some circumstance is to make them so, or pretend that they are, you are going to be having a bad time. I'm not against education. I'm against having it…