Your Lie, Their Truth
I think the easiest way to summarize Kevin Kruse’s viewpoint
in, “The Real Loser: Truth” is the fact
that if you spread lies enough it will become truth in many people’s eyes, no
matter whether your statement is based on any real facts or not. He is
absolutely correct in saying politicians and television news reporting is
loaded with rhetorical non-truths.
In fact nothing makes me madder than election time. It has
gotten where anymore you cannot believe anything you hear or say during the
campaign and the winner is usually the one with the most money: then they can
spread the most lies and half-truths. It
gets to where I do not watch television or answer the phone during the elections.
Television news reporting is the same way. The political
beliefs of the people in charge are so evident I can guess their political
affiliation without ever meeting them, just by how they report the news. If you
want accurate non-biased news reporting you almost have to watch NPR or BBC.
Networks like CNN and Fox News could actual use elephants and donkeys as their
respective mascots and I don’t think anyone would be surprised.
“A lie told more than once, always seems to become the truth”,
there that is a direct quotation from me. Just make sure if you use my quote you cite me in
MLA format or Mr. Sentell may give you a bad grade!
Jason, your insights about repetition and the illusion of truthfulness are spot-on! Indeed, empirical research has shown that repetition gives a statement a feeling of familiarity, which then makes it seem or feel more truthful. Great insight and quote!
ReplyDeleteJason, we have talked about stories being twisted on political news channels in our Current Event class many times. Our teacher told us to always read stories from more than one source, so then we might get the whole story. I think it is really sad that we can not just take our leaders' word for anything. In order to know the truth, we have to do the research ourselves.
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