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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page reaction paper to an article by Paul Piper entitled "Better read that again: web hoaxes and misinformation" is an informative survey of different categories of misinformation, which includes everything from racist propaganda to intentional joke pages on the Internet. The writer argues that Piper's article goes to the heart of an issue that has been frequently overlooked, but is nevertheless inherent in US culture, which is the prevalent misconception that anything--literally anything--if it appears in print or is said on television, has to be true. The writer argues further that if the misinformation on the Internet raises the level of skepticism in the American public, it is a good thing. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khwebhox.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
intentional joke pages on the Internet. Pipers article goes to the heart of an issue that has been frequently overlooked, but is nevertheless inherent in US culture, which is the
prevalent misconception that anything--literally anything--if it appears in print or is said on television, has to be true. "It must be true. I saw in the newspaper" is a statement
that all too often characterizes the gullibility of the American populace. At the end of his article, Piper observes that "Web literacy demands intelligent Internet use" and also
that "Web literacy is really not qualitatively different from information literacy" (Piper). This observation is, indeed, quite true. It should be considered a national scandal that supermarket rags such as
the National Enquirer represent some of the best-selling newspapers in the country. Piper alludes to the fact that many hoax sites are "absolutely hilarious" (Piper). Maybe this is why the
Enquirer sells so well. Personally, I always scan the Enquirer headlines while waiting to check out my groceries precisely because they are so funny. My all time favorite is one
that read that AIDS was killing the worlds vampires. It would be pleasant to think that this is why the Enquirer sells so well, but, in all probability, some people
actually believe it. As the example of the Enquirer indicates, the Internet does not have a monopoly on misinformation or hoaxes. However, the fact that anyone with a computer
can publish on the Internet has increased the amount of misinformation that is readily available by --undoubtedly--some sort of astronomically high figure. To my way of thinking, this is a
good thing because it is possible that it may raise the level of cynicism in American culture to the point where, maybe, just maybe, the average citizen begins to harbor
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