I found an article on BBC News concerning the effects of social media on new reporting (link). The article concluded that social media keeps corporations and individuals honest by making many of their behaviors and opinions transparent to the world. The argument was framed as such,
p1. Social media shines light on everything we do.
p2. Those who abandon core values and aspirations will be discovered through the relentless examination of social media.
c. Social media keeps everyone honest.
I find that this argument is incredibly unsound. The premises I find are incredibly hard to prove. The first premise is faulty because not only is it incredibly difficult to prove that social media does in fact shed light on all our activities. I can think of many things that I do that never make it to the social networking site, so already that premise is invalid because it said EVERYTHING. The second premise is no better. If I can do things that do not make it to social media, that can mean that those who are less reputable could potentially do the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree, in the actual article they said "organizations." I find it even harder to believe that a corporation is kept "credible" by social media.
ReplyDeleteIt's inductive, and seems strong, but for the reasons The Griffin cites, uncogent.
ReplyDelete