As any student of philosophy knows, this is an aspect of Argumentum ad Populum, or the Bandwagon effect-if millions of people believe X, it must be true. As a researcher, I’ve noticed the tendency on the Internet for some “fact” to be posted on one site and then reposted hundreds of times, as if the amount will somehow prove it’s true. We are supposed to live in an “information society,” but sadly, much of what we see and hear is not entirely accurate. Every school-from elementary right on up-should encourage students to become media literate: the ability to evaluate and assess the claims made by commercial advertising as well as by politicians and advocates. I’m a professor of media, and I focus on critical thinking in every class I teach but it’s not just college students who can benefit from a skeptical approach to what they see from both print and online sources.
And while we most often see these sorts of false (but credible-looking) assertions made during elections, they can also be generated by interest groups trying to peddle unproven cures for diseases, or anti-science advocacy groups who oppose fluoridation or vaccination. But some are more subtle, relying on truncated (or fake) quotes, or manipulated facts. Some of the chain-emails are obvious partisan propaganda (There is little if any chance of any president, whether Barack Obama or anyone else, imposing Marxism or Islam on America and the Affordable Care Act contains nothing about “death panels”). If the Obama-care health bill is passed, Grandma will face a “death panel” that will decide if she lives or dies if Barack Obama is re-elected, America will soon become a Marxist or Muslim nation. Even the most skeptical among us have had this happen: A friend or relative forwards an e-mail from an organization with a safe-sounding name (“The Clean Air Initiative,” “The Center for Consumer Freedom”), but the e-mail is filled with scary assertions, usually of a political nature.
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