Study Room 11

In this forum we will examine and discuss the following phenomena:

Fake news (Clear and Present Thinking, 170-172)

Scams(Clear and Present Thinking, 156-158)

Propaganda and Disinformation(Clear and Present Thinking, 165-170)

Conspiracy Theories(Clear and Present Thinking,152-155) (Also, go to Lecture and Resources: Conspiracy Theories are richly treated at Kevin deLaPlante's YouTube Channel.)

TWO POSTS ARE REQUIRED

Select ONE of the above topics.

FIRST POST

Provide an example (Fake news, scam, propaganda or conspiracy theory), explain the example and offer comment--how to identify and analyze the scam, or an example of fake news--and how one would identify it as such. Conspiracy theories and propaganda are more complicated--you need not explain the whole theory or propaganda--but discribe in outline and apply deLaPlante's skeptic default methodology in the case of a conspiracy, and explain how the conspiracy theory matches up to this critique. And with propaganda, provide an analysis.

SECOND POST

Offer comment on the post of another student--objection (civility always!), questions, eloborate on a point, offer more evidence. Try to develop dialogue, exercise your critical thinking skills, and have fun.

Lecture and Resources Week 11

REQUIRED

Critical Thinking and Media

Read the Khan Academy article on social media:

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computers-and-internet/xcae6f4a7ff015e7d:computing-innovations/xcae6f4a7ff015e7d:communication-innovations/a/social-media

Recommended: Khan Academy Video on Mass Media:https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-culture/culture/v/mass-media

Read the review of 'Fake News" at this UC Berkeley Library page:

https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/fake-news

Conspiracy Theories and Critical Thinking

In the textbook there is some general material on conspiracy theory, how to identify and describe conspiracy theories, and some ideas about how to analyze them. Please read this text first, and then go to Kevin deLaplante's YouTube Channel.

Go to: "Kevin deLaplante YouTube Channel". Navigate to the "Critical Thinker Podcast".Then view "Critical Thinking About Conspiracies Part 1" and "Critical Thinking About Conspiracies Part 2".

At the very least these are very entertaining and informative videos. Perhaps the most important notion and argument in the first two videos is the "Default Skeptic Position or Stance" (The grander the conspiracy the less likely that it is true.):

The third video in the series, "Conspiracies, Mind Control and Falsifiability", is also quite entertaining, as are the videos on cognitive biases.