California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: September 3, 2008
Latest Update: September 27, 2008
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
patriciaacone@yahoo.com

Topic of the Week:

As Topics Swirl Around Us
How Do I Know What's True?

• Introduction

  Hirschman warned us. If we want reasoned governance, a government that will respond to our needs and encourage our growth and health, we can't afford to shout sound bites at one another. We've got to think seriously and critically* about our values and our issues. Time to devote some attention to how you find the real facts and issues in the midst of media and internet hype.

  "[C]ritically," here, means with good faith, a willingness to hear what the Other has to say on the many sides of each issue, and every attempt within your own power to understand why the Other would take such a position, and to add your perspective to the discourse, so that we might collectively make choices with which we are all able and willing to live. Both logic and feelings are a part of most of our decisions; "critically," here, means accepting that feelings and belief matter, and that we need to consider both, recognizing that our feelings and beliefs are unique to both of us, given the uniqueness of our selves, and that a general acceptance of facts (in the scientific sense) does not exempt us from dealing fairly with each of us in this world of differences.

  This is a hard definition to write. I have drawn on such varied intellectuals as Sartre, Hirschman, Bakhtin, and Lear. In making the definition work for you, you must draw also on those with whose thoughts you are familiar. To think critically is to accept that although the present social world we know may be the best we can do at the moment, that doesn't excuse us from trying to make that world conform better to our values and ideals. That's what critical thinking means: we CAN do it better, if we but try. Notice that this definition doesn't suggest that either side or prespective is "right" or "wrong." Each perspective represents a different ideology, a different worldview, a different set of experiences. Justice is about respecting each of those ideologies, worldviews, experiences, and working hard to respect each without oppressing any of them. We may not be able to reach ideal conditions, but if we each act in good faith, we CAN respect each other and make this a better world for all of us.

  References:

  • Truthout Critical perspective.
  • Critical Criminology.
  • The Reason Project
  • More soon.

Announcements:

• Up soon.

Issues

• Issues of Judgment

  "When Average Isn't Good Enough," Sam Harris, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, September 3, 2008.
  Alternate site for Sam Harris article.

Visual Sociology
Alternate site for Sam Harris article.

• In the real world stuff happens. We can peer in curiosity and smirk at how that would never happen to us, or we can wonder how to better support our kids and try to make our system work better. I'm still hoping for some published photos of respect for the Other. Would appreciate if you'd all send images you think illustrate this. jeanne

Online Resources For Governance Discourse

• References to check the truth of facts on political statements, charges, rumors:

  FactCheck.org

  Fact Checking Debate No. 1: September 27, 2008

• Newspapers: Labeling here is based on an article by Ashley K. Vroman on the impossiibility of labeling newspapers by ideology. I personally go along with the conclusion of the conservative Media Research Center's L. Brent Bozell III: "if the paper never met a conservative cause it didn't like, it's conservative, and if it never met a liberal cause it didn't like, it's liberal." But then, what about the Wall Street Journal whose news staff is considered liberal and its editorial staff considered conservative? jeanne

  Liberal Newspapers:

  New York Times - Los Angeles Times - The Washington Post
  The Boston Globe - The Chicago Tribune

  Conservative Newspapers:

  The Wall Street Journal - The Washington Times - The New York Post
  Manchester (N.H.) UnionLeader - The Oklahoman

  The Ideological Labeling of These Newspapers:

  "To test my hypothesis that people cannot classify newspapers as liberal or conservative, I began searching for any source attempting to classify newspapers ideologically. The sole article I came upon was "Rating the Top 10, Left and Right" from Insight magazine, written by Keith Russell. Insight rates what they deem to be the top five liberal newspapers and top five conservative newspapers in the country. A possible explanation of why I could only find one article in this search is because people, including scholars and academics and most popular magazines, do not try to measure how liberal or conservative newspapers are. Some may know that they cannot do it reliably and validly because different methods yield different results. Perhaps others do not formulate methods or measures lest they expose problems of reliability and validity. Unsupported assertions may be politically and tactically superior to dubious investigations."

  From "Slandering" the News: How Labelers Cleverly Undermine the Reliability and Validity of Newspapers," by Ashley K. Vroman, May 5, 1999. Consulted by jeanne, May 28, 2008.

• Beyond Newspapers

  • The Institute for Public Accuracy The Institute for Public Accuracy seeks to broaden public discourse. With systematic outreach to media professionals, the Institute provides news releases that offer well-documented analysis of current events and underlying issues.

    Paul Loeb, columnist and author, recommended this site for us when we're trying to be sure we've covered multiple perspectives on each issue.

  • OpenSecrets.org "Our Mission: Inform, Empower & Advocate"

    • Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their lives
    • Empower voters and activists by providing unbiased information
    • Advocate for a transparent and responsive government

    David Brooks identified this site in His opinion column on July 1, 2008 in the New York Times. It is a good source of data on issues and the various perspectives on and funding of support for those issues. jeanne

  • I also suggest the use of Arts and Letters Daily the Chronicle of Higher Education Site for clarification on the issues as perceived by other academics. jeanne

  Current Online Sources Freely Accessbile Current list that is being updated and revised, but on which most links are still functioning. jeanne

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