~The Author is Always Right! Or Are They??~

 "Information is Only as Reliable as The People Who Are Receiving It."

~ Julia Koller

How many times have you seen something posted on Facebook or Instagram that you automatically believed, only to find out later it was false information? I have countless times! Social media is full of misinformation and fake stories. Tabloid magazines pride themselves on uncovering the "secrets" and inside scoops of celebrities that aren't even true! These fallacies generate views and profit so the media prints them without question. We automatically assume it's true just because the media said so. 

Carl Bernstein, an investigative journalist, once said, "The lowest form of popular culture - lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives - has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage". 

After practicing critical reading with the "reading with/against" activity, it challenged me to dig deep into what the writing was saying and analyzing the positives AND negatives. When I was reading "Everyday Resistance: Saying No To White Supremacy" by Bell Hooks, I caught myself critically reading the information, questioning it, and disagreeing with her when I normally would just accept the information. The activity helped me recognize and understand Hooks' perspective, while also forming my own.