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EungyungEileenChoiFirstEssay 8 - 11 Jan 2020 - Main.EungyungEileenChoi
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| | | The history of internet opinion manipulation in Korean politics dates way back. Several politicians from different political parties were convicted for hiring people to distribute disinformation through the internet to slander his opposing candidate in a primary race or election, in 2004, 2008, and 2012. A former head of the Korean intelligence agency is serving jail time for having ordered his subordinates to post mass comments or retweet comments in support of Ms. Park who was then running for president. | |
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< | Baby, One more time | >
> | [ ] | | | Now, some might question what real harm does it? Does the number of 'likes' or 'dislikes' really matter? Don't people have their own views and opinions? Even major news media spread incorrect or inaccurate news from time to time. More importantly, most times it is very difficult to draw a clear line between information, misinformation, and disinformation. If we were to ban any information that bears a risk of being incorrect, wouldn't that sacrifice the sacred freedom of speech? | |
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< | Well, a classic psychological experiment by Solomon Asch suggests those things matter. In his well-known conformity experiment, Asch observed that about one third (32%) of the participants conformed to the clearly wrong majority view although most of them said that they did not really believe their answer but were afraid of being different (McLeod? , S. A. (2018, Dec 28). Solomon Asch - Conformity Experiment. https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html) Asch suggested that it was the social pressure and thus should be able toare know that and thus they should screen the information and Shouldn't people know better than just receiving it as a plain fact? their reasoning incorrect anywa iFollowing the above developments in Korea, I'm terrified about the consequences that the misuse of the internet can have on democracy. However, I also believe that democracy is still the best method to protect civil rights and to effectively and fairly run a country. There is an old saying in Korea that describes my feelings towards this issue, 'I hate you, but one more time'. It is used in situations where one loves another person so much that one cannot abandon the other person in spite of his/her faults and gives him/her another try. Therefore, rather than jumping to the conclusion that we should declare democracy dead because of the risks it faces in the internet society, | >
> | Well, a classic psychological experiment by Solomon Asch suggests those things matter. In his well-known conformity experiment, Asch observed that about one third (32%) of the participants conformed to the clearly wrong majority view although most of them claimed that they did not really believe their answers to be true. McLeod? , S. A. (2018, Dec 28). Solomon Asch - Conformity Experiment. https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html Asch suggested that it was the group pressure that was making those people respond in conformity with the majority. Also, according to the experiment, people are more likely to conform if the number of majority is larger. So, the number of 'likes' or 'dislikes' on a posting regarding a political candidate might have an influence on prospective voters. Voters might refrain from expressing their views if they see the 'likes' or 'dislikes' of the majority is different, in a poll, for example. The poll results, in turn, could affect the same or other voter's decision. False or unverified information degrading a candidate might not be believed right out but if voters are exposed to disinformation over and over again, more are likely to believe the story. As the number of believers grows, group pressure might kick in with a snowballing effect. People who don't believe the story may silence, the majority view will grow even bigger, the pressure goes up, etc. The Cambridge Analytica If coupled with behavioral targeting, The impact grows even bigger if you use personal information to sort out and target neutral or vulnerable individuals and bombard them with fake news that creates fear and hatred in them so that they discharge a candidate and vote for the other.
By tweaking the majority view and by creating negative appearancesa candidate's fate could change the fate of a candidate, as is the suspicion of many Americans with respect to the 2016 presidential election. it will also harm the might be changed they might begin a voter might actually be affected by the number of 'likes' or 'dislikes' on a posting regarding a political candidate. And if this adds up to hundreds and thousands posting, it might even change the result of an election. | | |
Who has actually been doing this? It doesn't seem necessary to write an essay countering this argument unless someone is really making it. |
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