Unspun

UnSpun Overview of chapter 6: The Great Crow Fallacy A psychology terry maple noticed that a crow was picking nuts and dropping them on a path with on coming cars where the impact of the car broke open the nuts and the smart crow would feed on the open nuts and keep dropping more nuts for opening. Any one would confuse these birds as smart but they are not. Same way, do not confuse Anecdotes with data. It talks about cyberspace which is a virtual place that connects computers while creating a common ground for all internet users and this environment is inhabited by knowledge. Cyber space is a forum used for open ended discussion and sharing of ideas between individuals. Some consider it as a city with all the various societies ranging from business to private users. It makes users feel close to each other while in reality they are distance apart and this distance causes disorientation and confusion for users.
The Great Crow Fallacy discusses on how the thoughts of a person and his or her unprofessional observations were highly manipulated into becoming facts which had been researched. According to this chapter, saying about something does not make it to be so one does not have to believe in everything they hear. This chapter also states that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and so one should ask about the origin of the claim. A person should also ask questions whenever possible on any evidence. The chapter emphasizes on believing on data more than anything else.
Examples obtained from the US campaigns to emphasize the readings
1. Presidential Debate 2012 on Health Care – Mitt Romney Says Expensive Obamacare Hurts Job Growth, http://www. youtube. com/watch? v= p3EZjb0Escc
The first presidential debate 2012 in USA between Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama can be used to bring about the great crow fallacy. In the debate, Mitt Romney is seen to be correcting misleading statements uttered by Obama about Romney’s plan for health care and entitlement reform.
2. Mixed messages from President Obama after 100 days, http://www. youtube. com/watch? v= sUjwgWwiMTw
The people of the United States voted for Obama from his sayings that he was out for change. The people therefore believed in him as a pro human rights activist who will stand up and bring every injustice to justice and transparency. However, these expectations were barely met after 100 days upon his election as he is on record in terms of the US encounter to the terrorism polices to have been reviewed by the Amnesty International report. This brings about the great crow fallacy as Obamas words prior to the election does not hold on through out.
3. MITT ROMNEY: JOE BIDEN misled on Libya security During VP DEBATE, http://www. youtube. com/watch? v= l_-xXOYSSBw
Here Romney is seen to accuse Joe Biden of making misleading statements on the consulate attack in Libya. This brings about the concept of the great crow fallacy as saying about the misleading statements does not make it be true as this may have been mare accusations.
Work Cited
Brooks Jackson, Kathleen Hall Jamieson. unSpun: Finding Facts in a World ofDisinformation. Random House Publishing Group, 2007, pg 103-127