Blog Question, " What is the role of modern technology in generating, spreading, or sustaining conspiracy theories?"
Wow! The power of the world wide net! This technology is a mixed blessing, you can almost find anything you want to hear or want to know using the internet. From research on papers to the latest gossip you will find it all on the internet. Sometimes this easy access will lead to a large conspiracy which may have started out as a joke between a few friends to something that everyone tends to hold as truth and base many of their actions on it. Another possible evil is the television, how many times do you flip through the channels and the news has something interesting on that you just have to watch. How many times have you watched the political debate and wondered why it tends to only be one sided? If its on an authoritive news station than it must be true right?? How many times have you heard or read something on the news and took it as truth but later found out that it was false? These new technological advances appeal the many people who thrive on gossip, drama, or even just the latest ideas in America and around the world. There tends to be a large connection between how largely a story or idea is publicized and how accepted it is.
Lets take the news for example and a political campaign. Many people rely on the credibility of
things they read on the internet and things they hear on the news for their answers. If the news and internet is biased to a certain candidate, you can bet that more people will vote for that person because it seems as though “everyone else is voting for that person”. Another idea would be the idea of a conspiracy
concerning 911, by simply typing in 911 conspiracy, I had pages and pages of search hits.http://www.911truth.org/
How about landing on the moon? A classmate of mine posted on the discussion board “ I know we landed on the moon, I saw it on television.” How many people if you ask, “Did we land on the moon?” Would have the same answer? Now we may very well have landed on the moon but with the advances in modern technology and special effects that can be made up, it is possible that we didn’t land on the moon and that all the pictures and video we have seen on it was all a hoax.www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html Was landing on the moon a conspiracy?
The point is that although the internet, television , and news are all great tools that should be utilized for good, they can also be used for generating and sustaining conspiracies. Technology should be user, listener, and reader beware. Do not be easily convinced, do your research and draw your own conclusions. Just because many people say and believe something doesn’t make it true. As my mother would say, “if everyone else jumped off a bridge would that mean that it’s a good idea to do that?”
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Perfectionist Possibly?
There are so many issues today that arise that have more than one solution. Many people tend to be uncomfortable with the fact that there are more than one solution to a question or problem. I am one of those people.
I would consider myself somewhat of a perfectionist. I have found myself struggling with classes such as this critical thinking class. The reason I struggle is because I want to do things the right way and answer questions with the right answer. When there is more than one answer I get very uncomfortable. Honestly, the discussion board is one of those areas, many of the answers are opinions based on what you read and how you interpreted the information. I am constantly concerned that I may have interpreted the information incorrectly. I think that others that share the same perfectionist type behaviors would also have a hard time with problems that have more than one correct answer and more than one solution.
Being that I work with dogs, I feel that this is a very pertinent example of a problem with more than one solution. From the basic level of training such as sit and down there are many many many different ways to teach the same dog. I would love to find one training method that trains every dog successfully, but I have yet to find that method. This is a huge controversy in the dog world because everyone has their own opinion on how a dog should be trained. Should it be all postive or should there be some type of correction? Seems like every trainer has a different idea.Popular TV personality, Ceasar Millan creates a lot of controversy on his training ideas.
But many dog trainers and behavior experts criticize the show, advocating a
gentler approach to training that replaces coercion and physical behavior
corrections with food rewards and other forms of positive reinforcement. They point to new studies that have placed the two popular dog-training methods head- to-head and almost universally shown positive training to be more successful than punitive methods in reducing aggression and disobedience (peeples)
Will there ever be a correct answer? Probably not in this case. The reason I feel that there is no right or wrong way to train a dog is because every dog is different.
In the case of things being different there is also differences between people. Every person has an opinion about issues. A hot issue in the news today is healthcare. There is such a division on what should be done that the country is truly divided on the issue. Everyones situation is different so everyone has an idea of what would fix the problem. Some feel that other countries have uniform healthcare so we should follow. Some feel that the healthcare should be left alone and kept the way it is, still others feel that it needs to be regulated. "That's why I think a lot of people are frustrated," [Jim Ferio] says. "They want decisive action." (Daley)
No matter what happens someone will disagree. I feel that in this case there is more than one solution. It is likely that this will cause tension even after someone has come to a conclusion whether that be to change it completely, alter it slightly or leave it alone all together.
I believe that everyone should take a class on critical thinking. It helps to ease some of the stress that arises when a problem has more than one solution and it also allows a person to be more accepting of others opinions and appreciate that everyone interprets things differently.
Peeples, Lynn. "Critics Challenge 'Dog Whisperer' Methods LiveScience." LiveScience Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2010.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/091112-dog-training.html.
Daley, L.. "State of Reform. " Pittsburgh City Paper 17 Feb. 2010,Alt-Press Watch (APW), http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.yc.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1976929481&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1268030629&clientId=1407ProQuest. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
I would consider myself somewhat of a perfectionist. I have found myself struggling with classes such as this critical thinking class. The reason I struggle is because I want to do things the right way and answer questions with the right answer. When there is more than one answer I get very uncomfortable. Honestly, the discussion board is one of those areas, many of the answers are opinions based on what you read and how you interpreted the information. I am constantly concerned that I may have interpreted the information incorrectly. I think that others that share the same perfectionist type behaviors would also have a hard time with problems that have more than one correct answer and more than one solution.
Being that I work with dogs, I feel that this is a very pertinent example of a problem with more than one solution. From the basic level of training such as sit and down there are many many many different ways to teach the same dog. I would love to find one training method that trains every dog successfully, but I have yet to find that method. This is a huge controversy in the dog world because everyone has their own opinion on how a dog should be trained. Should it be all postive or should there be some type of correction? Seems like every trainer has a different idea.Popular TV personality, Ceasar Millan creates a lot of controversy on his training ideas.
But many dog trainers and behavior experts criticize the show, advocating a
gentler approach to training that replaces coercion and physical behavior
corrections with food rewards and other forms of positive reinforcement. They point to new studies that have placed the two popular dog-training methods head- to-head and almost universally shown positive training to be more successful than punitive methods in reducing aggression and disobedience (peeples)
Will there ever be a correct answer? Probably not in this case. The reason I feel that there is no right or wrong way to train a dog is because every dog is different.
In the case of things being different there is also differences between people. Every person has an opinion about issues. A hot issue in the news today is healthcare. There is such a division on what should be done that the country is truly divided on the issue. Everyones situation is different so everyone has an idea of what would fix the problem. Some feel that other countries have uniform healthcare so we should follow. Some feel that the healthcare should be left alone and kept the way it is, still others feel that it needs to be regulated. "That's why I think a lot of people are frustrated," [Jim Ferio] says. "They want decisive action." (Daley)
No matter what happens someone will disagree. I feel that in this case there is more than one solution. It is likely that this will cause tension even after someone has come to a conclusion whether that be to change it completely, alter it slightly or leave it alone all together.
I believe that everyone should take a class on critical thinking. It helps to ease some of the stress that arises when a problem has more than one solution and it also allows a person to be more accepting of others opinions and appreciate that everyone interprets things differently.
Peeples, Lynn. "Critics Challenge 'Dog Whisperer' Methods LiveScience." LiveScience Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2010.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/091112-dog-training.html.
Daley, L.. "State of Reform. " Pittsburgh City Paper 17 Feb. 2010,Alt-Press Watch (APW), http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.yc.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1976929481&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1268030629&clientId=1407ProQuest. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
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