When I published Accountability Citizenship in 2013, I defined the information stream as the sum of all the information that surrounds us, whether from radio, television, newspapers, magazines, tweets, blogs, flyers, billboards, email and junk mail. Furthermore, I identified five myths that are popular in the information stream because they increase engagement by us, the target audience. And the more of us that a given media channel can engage, the more money that channel can attract from advertisers. Here is an excerpt from page 27 of the book where I present and define the myths:
"The conspiracy myth assigns the blame for some social ill to a conspiracy of some specific subset of the population. The quality myth asserts that Americans are not as smart, enterprising, or honest as Americans of the past. The accountability myth tells us that individual members of Congress are powerless to change a system that seems stuck between dysfunction and gridlock. The complexity myth tells us that the problems and issues we face are so complex that they exceed the capacity of average citizens to resolve. The polarization myth tells us that our country faces overwhelming problems which have polarized our systems and citizens to the point that we can't agree on solutions."
Now, five years later, I believe more than ever that Americans need to develop and improve their skills for discerning fact from fiction. The myths are alive and well. But while the myths in Bullfinch's Anthology, pictured, were kept alive to transmit valuable ideas about virtue and other societal constructs, the myths I describe serve to "increase voter apathy and a general sense of hopelessness among passive consumers of the [information] stream." They are more a function of the way the information stream has evolved over the past 50 years than they are an accurate reflection of our society. Don't give in to the myths: learn to discern fact from fake news. Following this blog is a great way to continually refresh your critical reasoning skills.
"The conspiracy myth assigns the blame for some social ill to a conspiracy of some specific subset of the population. The quality myth asserts that Americans are not as smart, enterprising, or honest as Americans of the past. The accountability myth tells us that individual members of Congress are powerless to change a system that seems stuck between dysfunction and gridlock. The complexity myth tells us that the problems and issues we face are so complex that they exceed the capacity of average citizens to resolve. The polarization myth tells us that our country faces overwhelming problems which have polarized our systems and citizens to the point that we can't agree on solutions."
Now, five years later, I believe more than ever that Americans need to develop and improve their skills for discerning fact from fiction. The myths are alive and well. But while the myths in Bullfinch's Anthology, pictured, were kept alive to transmit valuable ideas about virtue and other societal constructs, the myths I describe serve to "increase voter apathy and a general sense of hopelessness among passive consumers of the [information] stream." They are more a function of the way the information stream has evolved over the past 50 years than they are an accurate reflection of our society. Don't give in to the myths: learn to discern fact from fake news. Following this blog is a great way to continually refresh your critical reasoning skills.
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