Fact over Fake by Linda Elder & LINDA ELDER

Author:Linda Elder & LINDA ELDER
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Foundation for Critical Thinking
Published: 2020-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

FORMS OF OBJECTIVITY

“Objectivity” on the part of the news consumer, and news outlet or reporter, may appear in at least three ways. Two are genuine. One is a fake or a counterfeit of objectivity.

The Objectivity of Intellectual Humility

The first form of objectivity is based on the possibility of developing intellectual humility or knowledge of our ignorance. Thus, a critical consumer of the news knows the difference between hearing a story and verifying the truth of that story.

A critical consumer of the news knows that what is presented as fact in the news may not be fact. It may be propaganda, misinformation, distortion, or half-truth. Knowing this, critical consumers of the news “bracket” what they hear, read, and see in the news. Recognizing that they don’t themselves know the facts, they suspend belief. They take in information in a tentative fashion (“This may or may not be true!”). For example, “objective” jurors will not come to a conclusion of guilt or innocence after hearing only one side’s case. News outlets and reporters who value intellectual humility and attempt to embody it are aware when they lack information to take a position on an issue.

What if this article had been written by those who hold a point of view opposite to the one embedded in the story as told? How would it be written differently?

Unfortunately, intellectual humility is a rare quality in human life. The majority of people in the world have been exposed to a limited range of views and have been most influenced by the viewpoints dominant in their own country, culture, and social set. Yet, they take themselves to be in possession of “the TRUTH.” This confidence is in fact proof of their lack of objectivity and their embodiment of intellectual arrogance. They neither know what intellectual humility is, nor take steps to achieve it.

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