Facts Can Save Your LifeAnna Vaughn & Ila SrutiAP Lang & Comp-8am

Main Idea

•Facts can save your money, your life, and

your freedom

•Knowing the facts is vital

•Taking the time and expending the energy

is worth it

Saving Money

The Grey Goose Effect

Lie: “You always get your money’s worth”

Lie: Higher priced items will yield better

results

• Named after French vodka

• Pepsi v. Coke; Vacuum cleaner example

• “Higher prices predispose us to think a product is better

even when it’s not.”

Tax-Evasion Scheme

•The story of Daniel Bullock

▫“active open-mindedness”

•Facts matter

•Challenging bad information is important

Saving Lives

What Really Kills Women?• Breast Cancer v. Heart Disease• Women are 9 times as more likely to die from

heart disease• Women are misinformed about their body and

their health• Why do women think breast cancer is the leading

killer?▫Availability heuristic▫Number of survivors

• This is startling because knowing the facts in this case is the difference between life and death

Dangerous Ignorance•2005- 13. 5% of ninth graders had had

sex, but estimated that 41% of their peers had.▫Peer pressure caused many students to

plan to have sex soon•2003-girls perceptions on “hooking up” in

college•Drinking in college•“Pluralistic ignorance”- gap between

perception and facts

War

Facts and War

•Truth: Many wars are started based on false information

•Examples: 2003 U.S led invasion of Iraq, 1991 Iraq v. US war, U.S.S Maine (Spanish War)

•Duty to lie•Media and people are deceived•Would the outcome have been different had

people known?

How to avoid being “spun”

•Unearthing the truth is not difficult, you just have to make sure the information comes from reliable people or places

•IRS website•FDA website•Keeping a cool head when war fever runs

high▫Ask yourself questions- how will this look

years later?

Connection to 1984

•The citizens of Oceania believe in blind obedience▫They are not aware of the workings of the

Inner Party▫The whole system is based on lies

•Concept of misinformation▫Freedom is not slavery▫Ignorance is not strength▫War is not peace

Connection to Weasel Words

•The use of vague words misleads consumers

•Because the commercials do not say anything explicitly it becomes difficult to build a case against these companies

•Everything is based on assumptions

Real-Life Examples-War

•Forged documents led top personnel of the US to believe that Iraq was purchasing uranium from Niger

•Result: Thousands of dead American soldiers and Iraqi civilians all based on false information

Real-Life Example-France

•When France openly stated their opposition to the Iraq War the media became biased and portrayed France negatively. ▫Example: French Fries became Freedom

Fries▫False information like France was actually

aiding Iraq in building their weapon supply surfaced

Real-Life Example- Politics

•A study at Yale University showed that:▫Even when people knew that the

information they were receiving was false, they still factored the false information into their decision

▫This is usually done by conservatives instead of liberals

•Political misinformation

Real-Life Example-Pharmaceutical Companies• They take credit for the fact that individuals live

longer today than they did on the past because of drugs ▫When they say individuals will live to a certain

age, they don’t take into account the high number of infant mortality rates

• They also take the credit for curing more children with cancer, but in reality they are curing less because the number of incidents is increasing drastically and they are not taking that into account.

Real-Life Example- Wikipedia

•Online source where anyone can change the content to say absolutely anything can obviously mislead people. ▫Some people are attempting to rectify this

after somebody falsely wrote on Wikipedia that two American senators had died, but a solution for this problem seems to be far in the future.

Conclusion

•Misinformation is running rampant in today’s society

•The effects of misinformation can be minimal or catastrophic

•One can safeguard themselves from being misinformed

•One should take an interest in the information they are taking in

•One should always look for the truth