Welcome to another episode of FGC Philosophy!
This episode was inspired by a few questions and ideas.
How do you know if our news source(s) are reliable?
How do we dive down into our sources and know if we’re being lied to?
What news outlets can you trust?
How do we find trustworthy sources of information?
How does misinformation affect censorship and our freedom of speech?
Referenced Video: Tomi vs Brian Debate
My thoughts on the news outlets, it feels like I can no longer watch the mainstream media. I’ve felt like this long before the Trump administration, but now it’s purely conformation. Our news sources are biased and willing to push a narrative. Getting the news wrong is an understandable mistake, we all make mistakes. The issue is how many major and minor news outlets handle those mistakes. Some don’t even acknowledge they got the news wrong. They just move on to a new story and a new issue.
Some brush over their mistakes as if it wasn’t a big deal and others acknowledge their mistakes and promise to do better. I wonder, how many times can these mistakes happen before we lose trust?
For me and many others, that trust is already gone. We have to double and triple-check that a source of news is accurate, be skeptical of everyone, or just trust an agenda to believe in. I’ve watched as both the left and the right push a narrative that attacks the opposing side.
Rather than giving unbiased news, they insult our intelligence by telling us what we should feel.
In no way am I saying that news outlets are completely dishonest, but I’m cautious of what I believe and act on. I don’t think there’s any crazy conspiracy, I believe news outlets are willing to “get it wrong” to be first or hit their numbers. I also think that there are major news outlets that are incredibly biased one way or the other.
People also tend to stay within their echo chambers. Talking to people online who believe what they believe, and getting news from people who think how they think. It appears many people aren’t willing to look outside their comfort zone to confirm a story, they believe the first thing they’re told.
Long story short, bias and inaccurate news, and echo chambers are a dangerous combination. A partially wrong story can spread like wildfire in an instant.
I’m starting to ramble so I will save further thoughts for a future episode perhaps. As I write this, I can’t help but think about how complicated this issue is. |THIS.
[By The Philocypher]
