Sad Reality

We look to the media to inform us and we rely on them for this purpose. Unfortunately, there are not of mechanisms for regulating misinformation in the media especially in the way of public relations. We kind of have to sort out for ourselves if the media is being ethically responsible and honest. It’s sad that our main sources of information are so plagued with deception. There’s no one around to police the information sources and to hold people accountable. We have to do that ourselves.

Money Talks

Money makes the world go round but should decide what information is pumped through to us through political and commercial advertisements? People with money are able to get their messages across the airways whether or not the messages are honest and try or deceiving. This hardly seems fair as the public are victims of the agendas of those with wealth. Lobbyists are hired to make less than ethical companies smell like roses all because the companies have the money to finance an image. This is dishonest, unfair and damaging to the community.

Taking Back Your Own Backyard

Taking Back Your Own Backyard was very inspiring. The people of the community standing up to the public relations departments of the world can definetlely have an effect on our environment as well the information we are given. When we are given bad information we shoud try are best to hold the companies responsible and to correct any damage that was caused by the information. I didn’t really like Toxic Sludge as much as Unspun but I can really relate to its overall message of the deception that exists in society.

Staying Unspun

I really loved UnspunJ It taught me a lot about how to interpret information in the media. It taught me the importance of not taking things for face value and to be proactive about getting the right information.
It was really eye opening for me to realize all the ways in ways in which we are deceived by the mass media and by organizations. I knew before reading this that they were very persuasive but I did not realize how much they were outright untruthful.

Using multiple sources...

We are really missing out on a lot of valuable information by not choosing to search for it. By not choosing to identify sources and gain new sources we are subjecting ourselves to being misinformed. We often her one fact or opinion and assume its right with out the confirming of other similar opinions. This often gets us in trouble as we are led to believe that someone’s opinion is actually fact.
Having information at our finger tips is often a deterrent for seeking the truth. We search for a topic, read the fist result and assume that it’s the best explanation. We must learn to careful of doing this!

Verify Facts

It is important to recognize the difference between real data and data that is pretty much inaccurate. We are flooded with so much information but we rarely take the time to fact check and make sure that the information is correct. This can be very detrimental to us as we base our decisions on slanted information. This chapter has really encouraged me to think twice about statistics that are thrown at me particularly in political messages. Much of propaganda seeks to connect facts that are not in reality connected and this is another way that the public gets deceived.

Louis Vuitton

Chapter 5 touched on something I find truly amazing which is branding. I don't understand how companies succeed as this. They make their product way more expensive than others of similar quality, the demand goes up and the product sells. It's crazy! Take Louis Vuitton handbags- right now the bags are basically status symbols. They are not, in my opinion, better made than most purses (I own one and have already had to have it repaired once) but the pricing is ridiculous with the simplest bags starting at about $650 (and lets remember they're canvas not leather). And yet, people still buy, buy, buy. I remember being so envious of my best friend when her boyfriend bought her a Louis Vuitton. She'd carry it everyday, even if it didn't go with her outfit. For a while my boyfriend seemed like a dud. I just had to have a Louis Vuitton. I didn't know why exactly, but I needed one. Let's just say you don't always get what you pay for.

The same is true for many name brand clothes. Most are made in the same places and with same fabric as cheaper alternatives. The difference is really the advertising with the more expensive brands relying on celebrities, upscale magazines and even higher prices in order to make their products seem more exclusive.