torsdag 24. august 2017

The importance of knowledge

Written by Runa, Bibbi and Léon

A lot of people are interested in what came previous to our generation's existence, but most people think that our history is boring, especially History class. Students are prone to boredom and to finding things difficult. History class is a class that informs us of how we got to where we are in the society today - how the human race built cities, formed languages, went from hunting for their life to simply going to the closest store and so on. However important our history is, there is a lot of it. Meaning that everything can't be interesting. Students get excited by the opportunity to watch a movie, not reading or sitting through a lecture. Even though the material is interesting most students will not be thrilled to read about it in a book and that is perhaps why people find the class so difficult. Because it demands reading.


Although it seems boring, it is obvious to many of us how relevant it is to our existence. But, some students, like I, are unable to see how it will come to use in our adult day-to-day lifestyle (depending on what you are going to pursue as a career in the future).


The way we are taught History in Norway today makes us unaware of how we will be able to use it in our future. We need a teaching system that gets us eager to learn and invokes our need for it. Or at least understand why. We receive large amounts of intricate information over short timespan and it doesn’t allow us to absorb it all. Yes, we are taught History from a young age, but what our teacher spoke about when we were younger is simple and doesn’t really give us the foundation we need to process the material in High School.


How to uncover fake news:


1. Don’t trust the headlines, be skeptical.
Fake news has the tendency to draw the reader in by creating “screaming”, “interesting” and/or “catchy” headlines with capital letters and exclamation point at the end to catch the reader's attention. If the headlines indulge in bizarre allegations or claims that seem too good or bad or just fictional to be true, they usually are.


2.  Take a closer look at the URL.  
A counterfeit or copied URL can and should be a “red flag” on fake news. Many websites that posts and produce fake news imitates more authentic and credible news sites by doing small amendments to the URL. To avoid getting fooled by this, one can go to the websites and compare that URL to the URL of a more reliable source.   


3. Research the source.
Ensure that the news is written off of a reliable source and who has a resume of being of being so. If the news are published by an unknown organization, you should look at their “About Us” page to find out more.


4. Look out for irregular formatting.
Many websites that produce fake news contain spelling errors and/or irregular layouts. If the website you are receiving the news from check these boxes, you should be skeptical of their content.


5. Judge the pictures.
Fake news often use manipulated pictures or videos. Sometimes the pictures are real but used in another context. However, you can use a search engine to find the origin of the photo or video.


6. Control the dates.
Fake news often contains timelines that don’t make sense or dates that have been manipulated.


7. Check the facts.
Make sure to research the writer's sources to confirm that they are correct. If the article/news are missing evidence or refrains from listing experts, it could be mean it is fake news.


8. Look at other reports
If there are no other sources reporting the news, it might be a sign of fake news.  If there are multiple trustworthy sources who are reporting the same news, it’s more lightly to be true.  


9. Is the news a joke?
Sometimes it can be hard to separate between fake news and humor or satire. See if the source is known for humoristic parodies and if the details in the news seem like it’s meant as a joke.


10. Some news are made fake on purpose
Be critical with the news you read, and do only share the trustworthy news.



Donald Trump


Donald Trump is one of the most seen and heard, aka influential, people in the world as of today. With this much power comes responsibility for, not just for himself and his actions, but for his people, and also respect for his job. These are two assets he seems to neglect in every aspect of his work. This, and the fact that, and here i quote Michael Hayden; “ He just doesn’t have an interest in the world,” is what i find the most disturbing about Trump. When your job is to run an empire like The United States of America, it is your duty to not make statements or claims from the top of your head just because you want to or feel the need to  say something. Donald Trump has got a severe case of mouth diarrhea, however if he'd actually known anything about the world history it wouldn't be this big of an issue.


Donald Trump did in April claim that Korea “used to be a part of China”, which I know is not true, Korea has never been a part of China. I also know that nobody pays the US for NATO, so when the president stated that Germany owed “vast sums” to the US for nato, I knew that was false. I know the difference between Napoleon III and Napoleon Bonaparte, and so should the President do. Another thing the President and his crew has mistaken is misspelling important guests name, position or country. This is a really unprofessional trait, which only helps decrease the amount of respect the white house receives from all over the world.  I find it shocking that high school students at the age of eighteen know more historical facts than the President of the United States. Many of the correct answers to these false accusations could be put into the category “common knowledge”. I for one believe a person in the position of the President of the United state should contain enough knowledge to cover such an easy field. Sometimes it seems like he’s just guessing or making up statements by whatever mood he’s in.


I mean don't get me wrong, he probably knows more than us about some aspects of life, for example how to get an audience to listen to you and how to speak in a way that makes everything he is saying sound like the truth or the right solution. This is a personal trait he has perfected, and If  he'd only learn the facts and history around the topics he chooses to comment on, he would most likely be taken more serious in the important conversations that his job acquires him to take part in. What is so sad is that he has all the facts available to him through the people he is surrounded by, and chooses not care enough about it to use these “tools”. By doing so he offends the presidents that came before him, he offends other nations. He offends the previous generations and he offends the world history and he those who actually knows it. To know the world history and actively choose not to repeat it is the only way to make progress, and it seems like Trump definitely is not a fan of a progressive society. He does not see the point in knowing about past mistakes, and he does not learn from his own either. It is a crime against the world that a president should not be allowed to make. But then again he did not become president on his own and i know that it agitates a “tremendous” - to use one of his most common words against him, amount of the worlds’ population, especially americans, that they have unleashed such a careless force as their public spokesperson, and governing face.

Every human being has the right to say their opinion and tell their truth. However, since Trump represents more than just himself everytime he speaks, i hope he sooner rather than later understands that this is not working. That he has to change before his people and the rest of the world will feel the wrath of his dependable mistakes.