• IN THIS SECTION
• Challenges
• Complacency
• Misinformation and Slanted Reporting
• Politics
• Future Threat
• FAQ

Administration attacks those it sees as enemies

Administration officials have attacked organizations they see as enemies: Fox News, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and insurers who announced that health care costs will increase under the proposed plan in Congress. Their actions have been deemed unseemly by both the left and right. Why do you think they did this?

They want to knock out anyone who does not agree with them, even if it violates their rights to free speech and/or freedom of the press.
They are merely inexperienced and are giving advice to other inexperienced people.
They want to mobilize the left wing base to get the poll numbers up, having lost the support of independents, according to the polls.
I don't know
I don't care

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Socialized Healthcare: Who Suffers?

Who do you think will be affected the most when health care is rationed under socialized healthcare?

 

People aged 65 and over
People aged 40 and over
The terminally ill
Patients whose operations or urgent medical care are delayed
Severely handicapped children
The mentally ill
All of the above
Unsure

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FAQ Challenges #2

2. I hear so much partisanship in the media and I just don't know whom to trust. How can I figure out what is true and what is just spin?

Numerous studies, such as "A Measure of Media Bias", indicate the American people correctly believe that the media are overwhelmingly partisan and slanted in their reporting. If our media truly presents a slanted view of the news, we consequently have only two options. The first is to sit idly by, listening to everything on TV and reading everything in the newspaper and just hoping that it's true. The other is to be proactive and become an educated news consumer who is much less likely to be taken in by spin. Learn the facts and read some background information. Look things up in an encyclopedia or other fact-based reference book. Research the history of a particular subject. Start varying the sources from which you get your news. Watch more than one cable station, alternate your local evening news, read more than one newspaper. It doesn't have to take a long time - fifteen minutes a day on the Internet is plenty to do a little research and read a news story or two. Then start to trust your instincts. If something sounds questionable, look it up on the Internet. Find verification from another source or see if someone else is telling the story in a different way. Developing your ability to recognize and neutralize spin, or slanted reporting, is an important self-defense mechanism for your brain. Don't allow someone else to think for you. Teach yourself the basics, verify any information that sounds suspect, and start to take responsibility for your continuing education.