Tuesday, July 12, 2016
What do we trust?
In Amusing Ourselves To Death I asked myself a question while reading Chapter 2, Media As Epistemology: How can we find the truth if we cannot trust the media? Postman states that the television distracts you with entertainment not allowing people to find the real truth of events. Many television programs sway people a different way with opinions on particular subjects. Due to the numerous television commercials, we cannot contemplate the meaning of this specific program without being redirected towards something else. Postman believes that typography is the source for truth. However, there are little to no books on present day events such as our political candidates or today's economy. Also with the shift from the book era to the television era, people look to the televised news more often than not to find the answer to their question rather than books. If we cannot use books or the television for epistemology, what do we use? Do we look to public figures? How can we trust something that is said to be the truth by someone?
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Well to be fair, books aren't unbiased either and like you said they aren't up to date. Amusing Ourselves To Death is a standpoint against technology's take over, but I see what you mean when you ask who do we trust when televised broadcasts are biased. I think doing research yourself would be the only way to get a purer form of truth since we never have the complete details to any news story. Your own research might never get you the full story so sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith and accept what we're told if the facts make sense.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that television takes a huge part in which we receive our public discourse. I guess that if a person is skeptical of what television displays in their content, then they could do research of their own. However the mass majority tends to be very gullible and not reevaluate the information they receive.
ReplyDeleteLike the others said, doing as much research on the topic from different sources is the way to find the truth. It's hard to know what is a lie and what is the truth now a days. Many of us take the first thing we hear and automatically think it is the truth. However, like Emmanuel said sometimes you just have to trust what you are telling is the truth and believe it. Whether it be in writing or on a television screen.
ReplyDeleteLike the others said, doing as much research on the topic from different sources is the way to find the truth. It's hard to know what is a lie and what is the truth now a days. Many of us take the first thing we hear and automatically think it is the truth. However, like Emmanuel said sometimes you just have to trust what you are telling is the truth and believe it. Whether it be in writing or on a television screen.
ReplyDelete