Skidmore Scope Magazine Annual Edition for 2017

33 SKIDMORE COLLEGE to confirm, to question anything that has been presented in a plausible and digestible manner. Further alienating us from a sense of truth is our self- segregation by class, education, ethnicity, political creed, religion, and on and on. If we only spend time with people we agree with, we keep ourselves safe from having our choices questioned, our privilege checked, and our assump- tions scrutinized. What’s at stake here is the eroding notion of a broader, collective good. — lantigua-williams Fake news is a factor in our public life, and only enlightened citizens—persons with a respect for facts, evidence, and differences of opinion—will have any prospect of differentiating the fake from the authentic. Of course we encourage others to be truth-seekers, and yet it is important, I think, to acknowledge that the world, reality itself, is neither true nor false. We find truth not by declaring that we have secured it at last but only by continuing to seek it and debate it with others, particularly with others who do not see “reality” as we do. — boyers We’re better consumers when we understand the necessity of skepticism. I suspect a whole generation will learn some painful lessons about “alternative facts” in the coming years. Unfortunately we are all going to pay the costs. — oles Free speech has always included a lot of false- hoods. I once read some really bizarre white supremacist material that was extraordinary in how gullible it assumed its readers were. But those were pretty small groups. Currently we have huge portions of the population accepting demonstrably false informa- tion as fact. I think two adages speak to this: first, that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others, and second, that with great privilege comes great responsibility. My point is that those who exercise free speech have a moral obligation to do so honestly, and those who listen to it have a societal obligation to educate themselves. But ultimately, I’d prefer to let truth win the day in a fair fight rather than to compromise free speech. — jochnowitz Partisans and the press Formerly marginalized voices, representing both oppressed minorities and white national- ists, have been empowered via social media and by the disintegration of a moderate elite, and now passions resistant to reason are prevailing. The white nationalists are arming themselves, as previous versions of them did in Nazi Germany, and the so-called anti-fascist left is also in the mood to fight, as evidenced by the recent protests at Berkeley. — delton Right-wing media like Breitbart, WND, and pundits at Fox have been hammering away at the “liberal mainstreammedia” for years. It’s become a part of conservative identity to distrust, even despise, the press. A T-shirt making the rounds during the election—“Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly re- quired”—was a chilling thing to see in public. The “mainstreammedia” at its best still offers (as best as humans can do) an objective, balanced package of news neces- sary to understand one’s community/state/nation/world and— this is the really essential part—to participatemeaningfully as a citizen in society. That’s in danger when real journalism is at- tacked andmarginalized and people get only the reports they want. We cannot act as citizens, or as a society, if we’re not at least workingwith a common set of facts. — jochnowitz Most surveys show that journalists are consider- ably more progressive on social issues and slightly more conservative on taxes and welfare spending than the majority of Americans. Research also shows that these personal views are superseded by professional norms like upholding objectivity and by the values of media organi- zations, which are often owned by conservatives. So there’s not a lot of evidence that a persistent “liberal bias” exists. Nonetheless, starting in the late 1970s, conservatives took every opportunity to complain about it and got media outlets to try to avoid the accusation by changing their coverage. Second, they built right-wing radio, Fox News, Breitbart, and other outlets to allow people to consume a wholly partisan media diet. This alternative media system has helped radicalize a right-wing base that sees the mainstream press, Democrats, and college professors as enemies. The left has become polarized, too, but it tends to maintain higher rates of trust in science, expertise, and mainstream journalism. — lindner At stake is the citizens’ right to have their gov- ernment remain transparent and accountable. Without a strong independent press, the country is susceptible to increasing levels of secrecy in government, leaders who move the levers of power behind closed doors, and a merging of personal greed with political opportunism at unprecedented rates. Wait, that all sounds so familiar...! — lantigua-williams Our democracy is in trouble. When a sitting president encourages his followers to take mat- ters into their own violent hands and legitimiz- es assaults on journalists, we can only hope that members of his own party will come to their senses and condemn him. I don’t know what ordinary citizens can do to protect the press, but I do know that we have a responsibility to nurture in our students—and in others we can reach in our writings and lectures—a respect and hunger for the work of a free press. Will that be enough? I wish I knew. — boyers