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December 06, 2008
Consider the Source: What Are They Selling?
(This is the third entry in a series on critical thinking. Entries one and two are here.)
Everybody is trying to sell you something, whether it’s an item, a system or an idea. You don’t have to buy it, but if you don’t realize that it’s at the heart of their arguments, you’re liable to whip out your wallet before you’re aware of it. So here are some ways to determine whether you’re being manipulated.
Listen to the language.
Is it persuasive, or is the speaker actually presenting information? Do they use words that evoke strong feelings: “motherhood,” “tradition,” “us,” “them,” “freedom,” "patriotism," or do they strive for balance? What are they trying to get from you with the words they use?
You can use information to persuade as well, so keep that in mind. Because the facts that are left out can be just as telling as the facts that are presented. Which is why you should always always always do your own research and not just trust what someone is telling you. Go to the primary sources whenever you can, be they books, studies or the Bible.
Defining the terms.
Many words have more than one meaning and even shades of meanings within a given dictionary definition. The seller may be plucking at your heartstrings with the standard, common, assumed meaning, while actually saying something entirely different. Don’t assume their definition of a term is the same as yours. Look at the rest of what they’re saying. Context is important.
Example. The Mormon Church put huge amounts of financial support and personal action behind Proposition 8 in California, calling it religious freedom. But really what it did was limit freedoms for a group of individuals who weren’t infringing on anyone's right to worship as they please. Religious freedom wasn't at issue, but it's a big emotional touchstone, and people responded emotionally to the arguments without thinking about whether or not they were rational.
Also, much of W’s campaign rhetoric. "Compassionate Conservative," for instance, or "being a uniter, not a divider," or "I'm not interested in nation-building."
How do they sell themselves?
If you're seeng a message online, what’s the url for the website? That will tell you a LOT right away. (Or the title of the book or article or journal, for that matter, if you're reading a print object.)
I was recently looking for actual information on candida, not the “Here, buy this product stuff,” but information, test results and scientific studies and the like. I could tell just from looking at the urls of the sites presented in a google search whether they were going to be useful or trash. Yeastandyou.com, beatcandida.com, leakygutsurvivors.com, cleancolon.com. Those urls are my own invention, as far as I know, but the actual site names are along similar lines. Sites with titles like that may be run by someone who has a passion about the topic, but he’s not trying to take an objective look at the situation. He’s made his bias clear right away. And also suggested that he’s got something to sell.
Do As I Say, Not As I do
Compare the speaker's rhetoric to their actions. Yes, I’m thinking about politics here. Look at what the candidates are saying versus their actual behavior.
Example. Fellow UI alumna and former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. $150K in wardrobe costs is not an indicator that you’re just plain old folks. Hell, I’m not in the just plain old folks tax bracket, and my closet doesn’t have even 10% of that value. And yet, people in a vastly lower income bracket believed she identified with their needs and dreams and lives. She didn’t.
Neither, for that matter, does our current president. He may sound folksy, with his malapropisms and his Texas dialect, but he went to Harvard. He came from a wealthy family. He’s probably never known want in his entire life. He can’t identify with people on the edge of poverty, and he’s never had any interest in doing so, the majority of his actions go entirely against those proclaimed beliefs. So why did people flock to him in 2004, believing he was a guy who was “just like me?”
Or, if you’d rather look at religion, politics not being your thing, consider the various individuals who preach about doing things for the glory of God, and yet seem to be more about social control and/or the acquisition of wealth than, say, the Beatitudes.
Examples. Jim Bakker, Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps.
This is not remotely to say that all religious people are greedy fearmongers who try to force everyone to live by their codes of conduct. There are many people out there of all faiths who believe in tolerance and justice and charity. I’m simply pointing out that not everyone lives by the rules they declaim from the pulpit.
So when evaluating a message, also consider the speaker/writer/seller. Look at what they’re doing, what they have done and what they do when they’re not in the public eye, and don’t just assume the words mean what you want them to mean.
Posted by sally at December 6, 2008 11:52 AM
Comments
Very interesting to me because at this moment I am reading, "If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways" which is basically teaching people to see/hear the fallacious whisper of our received culture in everyday things. Things that I, westerners, Americans, etc take for granted as fact and not our culture trying to sell ourselves back to it. Very interesting and by Daniel Quinn of the Ishmael books. He wrote it to teach people to think like Martian anthropologists about their own worlds to see what they could learn and change.
Posted by: HeatherK at December 9, 2008 10:57 AM
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