Your sources of news, explain your views.
All news sources are biased.
How do news sources polarize our political viewpoints?
Why is it imperative to question the point of view of what you hear, what you watch?
Watch our Truth in Two to find out (full text and hyperlink below)
The MEDIA you consume, may consume you.
Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
“The Sound of Silence” was a song written by Simon and Garfunkel in 1964. The song’s lyrics include these haunting lines, “Left its seeds while I was sleeping, the vision planted in my brain, the sound of silence.” The songwriters were concerned that voices being raised against the Vietnam War were not being spoken.
Some of my many questions to students when I teach media interpretation are, “What am I not hearing? Why does silence dominate one agenda, and noise, another? What am I not seeing? What’s missing in a news report? Why does the movie vilify one point of view, approving another?” As a teacher I press students to hear another voice other than the one constantly in their ear, in front of their eyegate, prominently app’d on their phone or emblazoned on t-shirts.
What is most distressing in news coverage, Hollywood pulpiteering, Twitter-mongering, or Facebook-shaming is the idea that someone other might have a different view, another explanation. But we are left with no countervailing weight, no opposing measure on the scale against the pundits on the screen.
“Silencing” opposition takes place by downplaying, defaming, diminishing, or disparaging others. To silence opposing views – no matter the idea, person or event – is the arrogance-arc: I know what you need to know and I will tell you so.
In May an article appeared highlighting the biases that influence politics. You can find the article hyperlink in this Truth in Two. The three major biases include
-
Confirmation bias: seeking information that affirms what you already believe
-
Coverage bias: what is reported or unreported in the news
-
Concision bias: focusing only on selected information
We should be wary of what Proverbs says, “Scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge.” At the Comenius Institute we echo Proverbs and the songwriter’s warning about the sound of silence, wary of those who want to silence opposing viewpoints.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.
[This coming semester, thanks to Heterodox Academy, I will be using this “Cognitive Bias” article with students https://bit.ly/2Z3GIjE ]