Via celaenos_aerie
Oct. 7th, 2008 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilroyA well-thought out attack on John McCain.
As always, the comments depress me (you can see them if you look at the non-printer-friendly version). The most intelligent comments try to convey a pretty simple fact: the people responsible for the article are choosing the material that works best against McCain. The facts are interspersed with a lot of opinions. Read with a grain of salt because these people have an agenda.
Well, duh.
I'd like to think that most Americans would have the critical sense to realize this. You don't deny the whole article because it's an attack, but you don't accept everything just because the author says so, either. Reading an article like this is an exercise in how far you can trust each bit of information-- you evaluate factuality, try and gauge context, and compare the news to things you've heard elsewhere.
Unfortunately I've taught rhetoric and critical reading, and I know just how rare that kind of awareness is. Most people only have two settings when they look at a text: "this must be true" and "bullshit." Like I said before, the people showing authorial awareness are the most intelligent people posting comments. The rest... well, let me share an exemplary gem:
"Hey all of you pollyanna, pacifist, socialist Rolling Stone readers, be careful what you wish for! Barrack (Sadam) Hussein Obama is an unknown commodity with a pretty face and an Ivy League vocabulary. He has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with his professional, post-'community activist' life! 2 of his 3 years in the U.S. Senate have been spent running for president. You idiots deserve what you will get! Socialism has never worked in the world. What makes you think it will now?! All of you crybabies either too stupid, lazy or unlucky to either be financially successful or a limousine liberal like Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, or Barney Frank, are just jealous of success since you are incapable of realizing it yourselves..."
This person didn't even read the article, and they feel obligated to rant in the comments. And yet this person will probably vote. And I'm deeply afraid that this person is like many, many others who decide without even looking.
As always, the comments depress me (you can see them if you look at the non-printer-friendly version). The most intelligent comments try to convey a pretty simple fact: the people responsible for the article are choosing the material that works best against McCain. The facts are interspersed with a lot of opinions. Read with a grain of salt because these people have an agenda.
Well, duh.
I'd like to think that most Americans would have the critical sense to realize this. You don't deny the whole article because it's an attack, but you don't accept everything just because the author says so, either. Reading an article like this is an exercise in how far you can trust each bit of information-- you evaluate factuality, try and gauge context, and compare the news to things you've heard elsewhere.
Unfortunately I've taught rhetoric and critical reading, and I know just how rare that kind of awareness is. Most people only have two settings when they look at a text: "this must be true" and "bullshit." Like I said before, the people showing authorial awareness are the most intelligent people posting comments. The rest... well, let me share an exemplary gem:
"Hey all of you pollyanna, pacifist, socialist Rolling Stone readers, be careful what you wish for! Barrack (Sadam) Hussein Obama is an unknown commodity with a pretty face and an Ivy League vocabulary. He has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with his professional, post-'community activist' life! 2 of his 3 years in the U.S. Senate have been spent running for president. You idiots deserve what you will get! Socialism has never worked in the world. What makes you think it will now?! All of you crybabies either too stupid, lazy or unlucky to either be financially successful or a limousine liberal like Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, or Barney Frank, are just jealous of success since you are incapable of realizing it yourselves..."
This person didn't even read the article, and they feel obligated to rant in the comments. And yet this person will probably vote. And I'm deeply afraid that this person is like many, many others who decide without even looking.