Although a plethora of political information resides on the Internet, the American public self-reinforces their worldviews through their received knowledge about the world. In the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours,” Glenn Greenwald argues that the American government, along with media outlets, controls the amount of knowledge available to the public. Greenwald, by basing his claims on expert opinion, appeal to the reader’s beliefs, and specific cases of media control, provides strong evidence to convince readers that one’s worldview is shaped through propagandized material regulated by the American government and media. In order to support his assertion that the media purposely distorts information received
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He addresses the emotion it requires to realize the government’s folly but then offers a pragmatic reason as to why the misinformation strengthens one’s worldview. “It is simply unpleasant to think about oneself being propagandized,” Greenwald asserts, “but the more substantive reason for this resistance is that the way in which we assess the set of information about the world is very self-reinforcing” (827). Greenwald encourages the public to deliberately search for a wider scope of political opinion, but insists that one must “believe there is actually a reason to do it” (828). To assess how Americans fail to seek out completed information, Greenwald mentions Christopher Capozzola, who discussed the public’s response to more extreme cases of government-controlled media and its relation to the situation today (829). In tyrannical governments, information is tightly controlled and altered to the governments liking. When a dictatorship releases their control on media after such a long period of time, the citizens, conformed to the control and methods by which they gained information, neglect to find the truth. Greenwald appeals to common belief, which is that government sources are reliable, and counteracts this claim by providing evidence of the media controlling
He addresses the emotion it requires to realize the government’s folly but then offers a pragmatic reason as to why the misinformation strengthens one’s worldview. “It is simply unpleasant to think about oneself being propagandized,” Greenwald asserts, “but the more substantive reason for this resistance is that the way in which we assess the set of information about the world is very self-reinforcing” (827). Greenwald encourages the public to deliberately search for a wider scope of political opinion, but insists that one must “believe there is actually a reason to do it” (828). To assess how Americans fail to seek out completed information, Greenwald mentions Christopher Capozzola, who discussed the public’s response to more extreme cases of government-controlled media and its relation to the situation today (829). In tyrannical governments, information is tightly controlled and altered to the governments liking. When a dictatorship releases their control on media after such a long period of time, the citizens, conformed to the control and methods by which they gained information, neglect to find the truth. Greenwald appeals to common belief, which is that government sources are reliable, and counteracts this claim by providing evidence of the media controlling