Bias

In the subject of Thinking Skills we have been studying credibility criteria, which has many types. One of them is Bias. Bias is when one person or a source pre-judges, taking one-sided arguments which makes them reject any type of evidence that is against their beliefs. This leads to the distortion of evidence, where sources end up being unreliable. It is almost impossible to have an unbiased source due to the fact that everyone has their own point of view. As to work with this topic, our teacher gave us te following pictures:

 

In the first set of images we can se how Hitler and the media are criticising Jews because of the misfortune of Germany after the First World War. They are shown as demons, killers and trying to poison other Germans. Hitler also blame them for the hyperinflation of the 1920's. This is a clear example of pre-judgement, which helped Hitler to turn Germans against the Jews. These judgements are senseless as the Jews fought alongside other Germans during the defeat of the First World War. This images also overplay what the Jews did, as people do not make sausages out of rats or drain the blood of other people. Those sources are not showing how Jews really are. This sources are not credible as they are all based on hate feelings towards the Jews.

The second activity is about a British propaganda during the Gulf War of 1990-1991, between the Allies and Iraq. In this source the British describe themselves in a good and heroic way, meanwhile Saddam Hussein is shown as an evil person. This source is biased as the British show themselves as if they were going yo save the world.