Professor O’Malley pointed out something today in class that really resonates – that we have “an obligation to weigh and measure information.” He pointed out that history books used in schools are written by a group of people about whom we know nothing. Everything written (or spoken) has some kind of bias, even if it’s unintentional. Every human has their own unique mindset, built upon experiences in life, and even when we are fed the same information we have our own way of shaping and processing that information. Not only do we need to sort out others’ biases, but we also need to be careful of our own. Thinking about the history books made me think of Miller’s description of the evolution of the American Folklore Society, and how the folklorists didn’t portray an accurate picture of what Southern folks were really about – instead they molded what they found into their own preconceived notions of what Southern folklore (in their minds) must be about. I find this particular example so sad, especially the idea of dressing Muddy Waters up in overalls and having him in bare feet. Not only was this an inaccurate depiction, it was also very disrespectful. Unfortunately, that was the way much of society viewed Southern folks, especially African Americans back then. Even though we currently still have societal issues between Whites and African Americans, at least there has been a great deal of (painful) progress.

Back to the idea of having to weigh and measure information – once you start to think about this, you see all kinds of examples (which is a good thing for the sake of awareness). The photo manipulation during the Civil War that Professor O’Malley spoke about in class makes me wonder just how often throughout history that kind of thing went on. I suspect it was a common occurrence. It’s appalling that photographers would deliberately heighten the impact of their photos by moving bodies around, or piling them together just for the sake of drama. This is bad journalism, but it seems as though the desire for more attention and more money is too often at work. I’m studying Celtic Art, and bias is a definite issue, because the Celts did not keep written records themselves until the Christian Era began, and we have to rely on reports from the Romans, among others. The Romans, including Julius Caesar, in some cases seemed to be recording solidly accurate information, such as in what they looked like and what they wore. But there were obvious biases as well, for example in describing them as total barbarians, which was not the case.

People need to be aware of biases and manipulation. In addition to Miller’s examples in Segregating Sound, Carr goes into this issue in The Shallows, pointing out all the free access to tremendous amounts of information that people now have. This is probably the biggest challenge yet in attempting to weed out inaccurate information, not only because of the amount of data, but also because of the skill with which it can be manipulated. Information can easily be made to appear authentic by sneaking it into an academic or scientific format, or citing fake or weak credentials. It’s mind-boggling how many ways there are to disguise misinformation. One more thought about photo manipulation – these days it goes way beyond moving bodies around to make the aftermath of a battle look more dramatic and gruesome. With tools such as Photo Shop, photos can be endlessly manipulated. How can we possibly stay on top of that? It’s pretty frightening!