Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Using the internet for information (long)

floonine · 08-07-2003, 07:52 AM

I have noticed that, if for personal gain or to work through a discussion, a lot of people use sources from the internet more and more these days. In regards to politics or world events it is easy to justify these actions; with so much relying on ratings and quantity of information in the entertainment industry its difficult to believe anything you see on TV or read in the paper.

But the problem I am curious about is the amount of validity in the sources that we believe are "non-partisan" in the way they report... some people believe cnn.com, some people will only go to the BBC to get information, some will even go to outside, previously un-noticed, sources to get information... but who is telling the truth?

For some people, me included, looking at the beginning of Fox's news network it wasn't difficult to believe that they really were without affiliation to the information they would report, but look at the joke it has become. Why were we able to see Fox News as a joke? Mostly because we had something to base our skeptism off of, and most of it from the internet.

If you haven't read 1984, one function of the fictional government that the book was based around was to take any old book, document, etc that contained information that would damage the reputation of the aforementioned govenment and alter it. The possibility of doing something like that in the real world's physical media is difficult to imagine, and even harder to do (taking in account all the different books, magazine, newspapers, etc that would have to be hunted down and recalled), but information online could all be changed or destroyed. Anything that someone wouldn't want someone else to see could be altered or eradicated in mere seconds. For me that is a perfect reason to stop and double check the lies that might have slipped through.

How about you?

08-07-2003, 07:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
floonine Insane Location: Silicon Valley, Utah	Using the internet for information (long) I have noticed that, if for personal gain or to work through a discussion, a lot of people use sources from the internet more and more these days. In regards to politics or world events it is easy to justify these actions; with so much relying on ratings and quantity of information in the entertainment industry its difficult to believe anything you see on TV or read in the paper. But the problem I am curious about is the amount of validity in the sources that we believe are "non-partisan" in the way they report... some people believe cnn.com, some people will only go to the BBC to get information, some will even go to outside, previously un-noticed, sources to get information... but who is telling the truth? For some people, me included, looking at the beginning of Fox's news network it wasn't difficult to believe that they really were without affiliation to the information they would report, but look at the joke it has become. Why were we able to see Fox News as a joke? Mostly because we had something to base our skeptism off of, and most of it from the internet. If you haven't read 1984, one function of the fictional government that the book was based around was to take any old book, document, etc that contained information that would damage the reputation of the aforementioned govenment and alter it. The possibility of doing something like that in the real world's physical media is difficult to imagine, and even harder to do (taking in account all the different books, magazine, newspapers, etc that would have to be hunted down and recalled), but information online could all be changed or destroyed. Anything that someone wouldn't want someone else to see could be altered or eradicated in mere seconds. For me that is a perfect reason to stop and double check the lies that might have slipped through. How about you? __________________ Political arguments do not exist, after all, for people to believe in them, rather they serve as a common, agreed-upon excuse. Foolish people who take them in earnest sooner or later discover inconsistencies in them, begin to protest and finish finally and infamously as heretics.