Twitter Bots
Columnist Danny Westneat, in his article "UW professor: The information war is real, and we're losing it" (2017), asserts that the surge in twitter bots who are spreading false news, theories and conspiracies is dangerous and is negatively impacting news and our society. He starts off with recent, real life examples of the negative impact of twitter bots, builds on ethos by structuring the entire article around his interview with University of Washington professor Kate Starbird, a professional in the field of "crisis informatics," in order to build credibility and persuade his readers by letting them hear the information from an external, expert source, and ends off with his own reflections on the severity of the situation. Overall, Westneat intends to shed light on the harmful impact of these twitter bots, as well as more importantly, back up his claim with the personal opinions and findings of an expert in order to strengthen his message. He serves as a critic against the twitter bots, creates a personal relationship with his readers by sharing his personal feelings as well as an informant role, dutifully relaying information to his readers.
Although I had never heard of twitter bots before reading this article, I am glad that I am more informed because I now know to be on the look out. I never would have thought that spam-like accounts could be so influential and harmful, and its pretty scary how people will believe anything they read. The fact that many of these bots are claiming that bombings, shootings, and attacks were "fake" or a "false flag" is horrible, as so many real people were killed or devastated by these tragic events, and to discredit them is simply horrible. What stands out to me the most is that despite the fact that these twitter bots sometimes state seemingly insane and crazy claims, people are taking them seriously. In today's age, it is getting harder and harder to tell what is true news anymore because everyone has the ability to write what they please and post it for the world to see. The fact that people could make automated, anonymous accounts to spread lies and can do so in such high numbers that what they say is becoming a popular opinion is more frightening than anything else. On the flip side, because of all of these accounts and all of the media attention that this issue is receiving, people are much more cautious about taking things they read online seriously, and as a result, it could cause, as Professor Starbird stated, “the menace of unreality — which is that nobody believes anything anymore.” If this happens, people won't be able to tell the truth from the lies and will therefore disregard it all. This could become a serious problem, as the world would not believe anything that is happening, which I could only imagine as leading to chaos and anarchy.
Although I had never heard of twitter bots before reading this article, I am glad that I am more informed because I now know to be on the look out. I never would have thought that spam-like accounts could be so influential and harmful, and its pretty scary how people will believe anything they read. The fact that many of these bots are claiming that bombings, shootings, and attacks were "fake" or a "false flag" is horrible, as so many real people were killed or devastated by these tragic events, and to discredit them is simply horrible. What stands out to me the most is that despite the fact that these twitter bots sometimes state seemingly insane and crazy claims, people are taking them seriously. In today's age, it is getting harder and harder to tell what is true news anymore because everyone has the ability to write what they please and post it for the world to see. The fact that people could make automated, anonymous accounts to spread lies and can do so in such high numbers that what they say is becoming a popular opinion is more frightening than anything else. On the flip side, because of all of these accounts and all of the media attention that this issue is receiving, people are much more cautious about taking things they read online seriously, and as a result, it could cause, as Professor Starbird stated, “the menace of unreality — which is that nobody believes anything anymore.” If this happens, people won't be able to tell the truth from the lies and will therefore disregard it all. This could become a serious problem, as the world would not believe anything that is happening, which I could only imagine as leading to chaos and anarchy.
Rhetorical precis is written well.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with how you said no one believing the news could lead to an anarchy. This is not true. An anarchy is disorder due to the lack of an efficient government. The government would still be here, and be efficient, but people would just not be believing in the current events. I agree, this could lead to disorder but it will not turn into an anarchy.