Summary Of The Things People Say By Elizabeth Kolbert

Information is spoon fed to individuals. An illusion of choice is present; people can always choose the news station they watch, but which station, if any, has the most accurate information? Social media and television create opinions for people so they can sit back and accept the ludicrous concepts as their own. Post are composed of current political events such as gay marriage and police brutality, but the repetition is obvious; it’s evident that the opinions are derived from others without true original thoughts or consideration on the matter. Thoughts are crammed down the throats of the people, and the people willingly accept and adopt them. Even more disturbing, humans enjoy this useless, false information and entertainment. More people view Keeping Up With the Kardashians than educational programs on Discovery Chanel because intellect is no longer valued as long as amusement occurs. These inventions have proven that society will not put effort or thought forth if it is not pushed to do

David Brook's essay focuses in the main part about the discussions and conversations on race, which is aimed to lead the readers to contemplate the assumptions we take for granted such as the critical question of is diversity a cared for subject in the United States?”

Elizabeth Kolbert brings about an argument about polarization, as well as how information is misleadingly presented and misinterpreted on the internet. Koblert explains about internet misinformation, explaining how different authors and researchers have supported the idea of the World Wide Web being a base for unreasoned ideas. I agree with Kolbert’s idea on current interne situation because, as a result of the internet and the propaganda in it, there have been several political upheavals and social status conflicts.

The book, What To Say Next, by Julie Buxbaum, is an amazing story about friendship. When the popular girl Kit loses her dad in a car crash When she starts hanging out with David who has no friends. Kit likes Davids honesty and David likes having Kit around as a friend. When Kit asks for help figuring out the car crash her dad died in David would love to help. Will their friendship be able to continue when the truth is found out though?

Because of the Internet, citizens can get more current political information conveniently. There is no limit on number of people, area, time and hierarchy. Widely dispersed and good interaction can attract more people to focus on political news. Nevertheless, media can influence citizens’ view of representatives. People may vote blindly. Besides, not all of people have Internet in the United States. Teledemocracy will lead to a divide between the information rich and information poor. Ultimately, it will make a serious problem of democratic system.

The tone that was used by the author proved most evident when examining this article. The author combines a serious nature with a sarcastic tone to both prove her argument and demean the underlying story. The serious tone is most noticeable whenever she discusses group polarization. It is easily understood that she believes the internet is causing problems by creating a new form of group polarization known as cyber polarization. However, when the author addresses the story of President Obama, she brings back a sarcastic tone indicating her support of our leader. She intended this sarcasm to subtly say that those who believed the stories about President Obama were uniformed extremist. These contrasting tones help to prove

Society as a whole tend to watch the news outlets that most fit with their own beliefs. As shown by a Pew Research Center study in 2014, “When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals” (Mitchell et al). This is called selective exposure and involves the theory of cognitive dissonance, where people seek means to rationalize their beliefs by avoiding information that clashes with their existing views (Festinger). By having their beliefs continually confirmed by both their news sources and the people around them, their views will never be challenged, hence leading to a breakdown in productive discussion. Productive discussion is a hallmark of our society, both between citizens and the politicians they elect to lead them. Media bias affects productive discussion in two main ways. The first is that the bias creates a foundation of misrepresentations of the facts which ensures that the people cannot debate the facts as they are. One of the main functions of the news media is to set the agenda for society. In the words of Bernard Cohen, “media do not tell people what to think, but what to think about” (Cohen). When the media presents biased

Around seven years after Brown’s phenomenal work, Terri L. Snyder released Brabbling Women: Disorderly Speech and Law in Early Virginia. To advance the image of women in early Virginia, this book is an early examination of colonial Virginians attitudes towards women’s speech and how men viewed this speech as undesirable. The title of the book is taken from a 1662 Virginia law passed by the General Assembly that stipulated that “brabbling signified a wrangling, quibbling, quarrelsome, or riotous disposition.” This law turned an otherwise un-gendered type of speech into a gendered style of conversation, which recognized the speech of disorderly women as a key factor in the mayhem in the colony in addition to Bacon’s Rebellion. According to Snyder,

Around seven years after Brown’s phenomenal work, Terri L. Snyder released Brabbling Women: Disorderly Speech and Law in Early Virginia. To advance the image of women in early Virginia, this book is an early examination of colonial Virginians attitudes towards women’s speech and how men viewed this speech as undesirable. The title of the book is taken from a 1662 Virginia law passed by the General Assembly that stipulated that “brabbling signified a wrangling, quibbling, quarrelsome, or riotous disposition.” This law turned an otherwise un-gendered type of speech into a gendered style of conversation, which recognized the speech of disorderly women as a key factor in the mayhem in the colony in addition to Bacon’s Rebellion. According to Snyder,

Bias is defined as being prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. Americans experience some sort of bias every day, however, media bias is likely the most prevalent. Media can be biased towards liberals, conservatives, or any other political leaning. According to University of Oklahoma Professor, Keith Gaddie, the mainstream media mostly suffers from liberal bias - which is usually hostile toward conservative candidates and causes. Media bias can misinform, exaggerate truths, and cause confusion during voting season.

Many people over the world rely on ‘real life’ and ‘offline’ action and behaviours to express their opinion on politics. For those without the internet, their voices may go unheard and ignored. Furthermore, Papacharissi expresses that popular forums online may not create a utopian democratic society as many extremist groups are able to discuss their views online.Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a great illustration of how the internet can publicize extremist views and undemocratic values, as they promote racism towards African-American citizens. These negative effects are a creating a significant obstruction towards the creation of a global democratic society.

Political Bias in media is one of the most rampant examples of bias in terms of its influence on mindsets of people. The statement above by Edward R. Murrow makes total sense in today’s world. Political Bias is at its peak during elections. Public has to vote for candidates and much information about the candidates comes from media. Media, during these times, takes this advantage. Political bias can occur in two ways- individualistic bias and gatekeeping. Individualistic bias occurs when an individual reporter skews the views he or she is reporting because of a personal bias. Gatekeeping occurs when a group of journalists or editors come together and skew the coverage in a way they want, hiding the actual

“But I 'm ravenous for news, any kind of news; even if it 's false news, it must mean something” (Atwood, 1985). In this digital day and age, people have access to information and news at any time. People give their attention to a headline, an article, or a link just because they are posted on the internet. As a result, people have created a vicious cycle in which they search, read, believe, and share what they have read, without considering the reliability of the information and news. Technology has influenced communication and journalism; as a result, the media has adopted a business model based on clicks and advertising. The combination of people 's need for information and the greed of news corporations have allowed for the proliferation of “fake news,” a term that has gained importance in the last two years. Fake news is “completely made up, manipulated to resemble credible journalism and attract maximum attention and, with it, advertising revenue” (Hunt, 2016). News has the power to alter people’s perceptions which can impact their decisions related to economy, democratic process, and their lives and jobs. The media has a crucial role during democratic elections when people appeal to the media to acquire information about candidates and make a decision. However, the presence of fake news threatens democracy; therefore, it is essential that people recognize the effects of fake news and combat them.

Thesis Statement: Social media is not a reliable source of news because of its vulnerability to fake information, lack of validation, and the journalists’ inclusion of biases.

Using massive quantitative analysis of Facebook, a 2016 research study observed similar information consumption patterns among users of varying political leaning, namely the tendency “to select and share content related to a specific narrative and to ignore the rest” (Watry). Catering to the confirmation bias inherent in individuals, this tendency in effect drives users away from dissenting views. The formation of isolated, like-minded groups overwhelmingly benefits pieces that are intentionally crafted to manipulate said groups, thus initiating a vicious cycle of polarization: echo chambers provide the perfect environment for “fake news” articles, which then embolden extreme ideologies and hateful remarks, which in turn creates an even more polarized political