Fake News in a Post-Truth Society: The Death of Cri:cal Thinking? · 2016-12-07 · • Fake news...
Transcript of Fake News in a Post-Truth Society: The Death of Cri:cal Thinking? · 2016-12-07 · • Fake news...
FakeNewsinaPost-TruthSociety:TheDeathofCri:calThinking?
PHL130//Fall2016O’Rourke&Gibson
Whatiscri:calthinking?
• Workingdefini@on:
Cri@calthinkingisthinkingthatinvolvestheprincipledapplica@onofstandardsandcriteriaintheevalua@onofprac@calandtheore@calop@onsforthepurposeofreachingconclusionsaboutthoseop@ons.
(hKp://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/crit_think/Chapter-Two-1.htm)
• Argumentscons@tutetheevalua@veappli-ca@onofstandardsandcriteria
Howistruthimportanthere?
• Truth–understoodascorrespondencetothefacts–isimportantinseveralways:• Theprincipledapplica@onofstandards
requiresonetobesensi@vetothefacts• Youneedtogettheop@onsrightinorderto
evaluatetheminaprincipledway• Conclusionsaregoingtobemoredefensibleif
theyaretrueorarebasedintruth
Dissen:ngopinions
• Thrasymachus:“Isaythatjus@ceisnothingotherthantheadvantageofthestronger”(Plat.Rep.1.338c)
Dissen:ngopinions
• Protagoras:“itisequallypossibletoaffirmandtodenyanythingofanything”(Ari-stotle,Metaphysics1007b20–22)
Dissen:ngopinions
• Sco`eNellHughes:“There’snosuchthing,unfortunately,anymore,offacts”-(DianeRehmShow)
Arewea“post-truth”society?
• Whatispost-truth?• OxfordDic@onaries2016WordoftheYear
(hKp://www.npr.org/sec@ons/13.7/2016/12/02/502542397/is-being-post-truth-a-new-concept)
Arewea“post-truth”society?
• Whatispost-truth?• OxfordDic@onaries2016WordoftheYear• Defini@on:
“anadjec@vedefinedas‘rela@ngtoordeno@ngcircumstancesinwhichobjec@vefactsarelessinfluen@alinshapingpublicopinionthanappealstoemo@onandpersonalbelief.’”
(hKps://[email protected]/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016)
Arewea“post-truth”society?
• Itwouldbegoodtogoslowhere…• First,truthmaKerstomostofus• Second,truthhasalwaysbeencontested• OnmanymaKers,therearedeepdifferences
ofopinion• InthesemaKers,weokensuspectbias,
whichisasubjec@vedeparturefromthetruth
Arewea“post-truth”society?
• Third,poli@cianshavealwayshadacasualrela@onshipwiththetruth
• Butatleastithasbeenimportanttocul@vatetheappearanceofhonesty
• Un:lnow?
Arewea“post-truth”society?
• Proposal:Twowaysthatwemightbepost-truth1. Weallowcandidatestoassertcontradic@ons
andblatantlyliewithoutthatbeingadeal-breaker
2. WhilecommiKedonthesurfaceto“truth”,wearenotcommiKedtothemeansofachievingit(e.g.,sciencedenialism)
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
• Whatisfakenews?• It’snotnew
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
• Whatisfakenews?• Youarefamiliarwithvarioussortsofit
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
• Whatisfakenews?• Varie@esofnon-news“news”:
• Sa@reorcomedy• Rumororgossip• Sponsoredcontent• Non-mainstreaminterpreta@onoffacts• Poorlyreportedorjustincompetentnews
hKp://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/11/30/why-stopping-fake-news-is-so-hard/#7fec6a5a11e6
• Thesearen’tnecessarilyfakenews,though
Howdoesfakenewsfigurein?
• Whatisfakenews?• Acharacteriza@on:
Astoryisfakenewsifitis(a)astoryknowntobefalseinten@onallypresentedasifitweretrue,or(b)informa@onthatisknowntobeunreliablepresentedasifitwerereliable,or(c)inten@onallymisleadinginforma@onpresentedwithoutanyaKempttocorrectthereader
Whyisfakenewsimportantnow?
Whyisfakenewsimportantnow?
• Socialmediaincreasesthevolumeandrateofexposuretofakenews
• Fakenewsispresentedinwaysthatcanbeseduc@veandinsidious
• Wearen’tverygoodatiden@fyingit• Ithasbeenwidelyspeculatedthatfake
newshadanimpactontherecentelec@on
Howtospotfakenews
1. Readmorethanjusttheheadlineandthefirstfewlines–isitajoke?
2. Whatisthesourceofthear@cle?Lookthatsourceup,esp.the“AboutUs”page
hKp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169hKp://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/
Howtospotfakenews
Howtospotfakenews
Howtospotfakenews
1. Readmorethanjusttheheadlineandthefirstfewlines–isitajoke?
2. Whatisthesourceofthear@cle?Lookthatsourceup,esp.the“AboutUs”page
3. Checkthedateand@meofthepublica@on–isitoldnewspassedoffasnew?
4. Whoistheauthor?Looktheauthoruptoseewhatyoucanfindoutaboutthem
hKp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169hKp://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/
Howtospotfakenews
5. Aretherelinksandsources?Ifso,whatcanyoulearnaboutthem?Aretheylegit?
6. Lookatthephotosandthequotes–searchforthemelsewhere
7. Don’tgiveintoconfirma@onbias!Thisisinpartwhyechochambersaresocomfortable
8. Areothernewsoutletsrepor@ngit?hKp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169
hKp://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/
Howtospotfakenews
9. Checkwiththe“fakenews”experts–e.g.,snopes.org,FactCheck.org,[email protected]
hKp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169hKp://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/
Groupexercise
Splitupintogroupsof5and:1. Findonefakenewsar@cle2. ListtheURLforit3. Summarizeit4. Listwhatyoutaketobetheindicatorsofitas
fakenews
Finaldiscussion
Iscri@calthinkingimportantorjustanaïveintellectualfe@sh?