7. �In order to find out how things really are, one must understand the filters through which one perceives the world�. Discuss and evaluate this claim.

This claim can prove very true in many aspects of the human existence now. There are a plethora of filters that can skew the human judgment process, especially now in the torrent of mass communication we see every day. Through the television and other modes of media, we see a personal filter from the people that host the television shows, or the newscasters who add underlying bias to broadcasts. We also see different filters throughout governmental speeches and proposals. Lastly, we see a filter within ourselves; this is our moral filter, or our personal ideals and thoughts. All these filters equate to just different forms of thought that we must sift through to find the underlying truth. With this in mind, the source of the quote is very correct in saying that these filters get in the way of our true perception of the world.

The largest filter that exists today is the media and the endless stream of information filtering to us from all sides. It is quite a task to sift through all of it at once. The media shows the public what it wants us to hear and believe. Fallacies and one-sided arguments skew the way we can look at certain subjects. For example, Sartre said, �Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think.� These words and ideas always have an affect on our perception of the world. It can cause hate and bias throughout an entire nation. The �war on terror� is one prime example of the effect of words on a nation. Before the war on Iraq and the tragedy of September 11th, the majority of Americans didn�t know where Afghanistan and Iraq were located on the map. This flood of information came onto the United States on strong and it caused many biased opinions that were directed onto the Iraq government. The television provided this filter and it changed our world perspective. Radio and newscasters also provide the �popular opinion� to the public, and many people follow this opinion without any sort of consideration of the other opinion. This �popular opinion� is one of the main things that block our true perception of the world. It surrounds us and many people do not show the interest or the curiosity to pursue the higher truth. Lastly, pop culture plays another large roll in how we perceive the world. This also conveys the main stream ideals of the culture today. It tells us that we should all try to be superstars and glamour models and anything less will be absolute failure. Through these media filters, we can�t perceive the world as it truly is meant to be perceived. These modes easily corrupt the thought processes of people that are unable to see threw the underlying pitfalls of these opinions. A counter argument to this is that we need these media filters to tell us what is right and what is wrong. It gives us an upstanding moral standard that everyone should uphold. Even though, the media rarely does hold this moral standard close to what they say. This opinion still stands and that the media is entitled to make these decisions for us and the people allow the media to dictate what they think because its more comfortable that way.

Another large filter that contributes to the distortion of the perception of the world view is the filter of the government. This filter is more of a dictator of our actions towards the world and our actions through the United States. We elect these leaders that, like the media, tell us what we want to hear. The politicians, in essence, try to better the community, or the nation (depending on the level). But, mostly at a higher level, throughout the years, presidents have, like the media, used their speeches to encroach moral obligations onto the people. They tell us what is wrong and right and that we should believe what the �nation� believes. Usually this filter is called national pride and it is a good thing to have when you believe in a nation, but the filter is there, which does obstruct our main view of the world. Speeches and national pride cause many tragedies within countries. Hitler rallied the nationalization of the Germans, which in turn caused one of the bloodiest wars imaginable. Nationalization rallied many people into fanaticism, which in turn causes persecution and violent acts. The counter of this argument is, of course, that the government is there to guide us and protect us. It is not to the point where they are monitoring certain news channels or encroaching on our personal freedoms. The opposing argument is that we need the filter of government for the same reason we need the filter of media. We need the knowledge of what is going on in our nation and we need to know when and how we are threatened. The government does provide this very well, but in other ways they do have an underlying objective. For example, many say that George W. Bush Jr. wanted to invade Iraq after 10 days in office. Others believe that the �war on terror� is other a fight for precious oil that can be found on the native land. This is where the governmental filter is a bad filter. We fight or hate for reasons that are not our own, but the reasons of a figurehead that feds them to us.

Lastly, our own filters come heavily into play when we try to perceive the world. What we are taught and our own experience affect us in this particular filter. It is our moral code and what we think of other people, things, and the world in our point of view. This is the most intimate and personal filter that we know. Many other aspects play into this filter as well. Our thought may be our parents�, what you have been taught in school, or through friends. This filter is the more unpredictable and invariably affects us the most from all of the filters because it is with us everyday. This is also the most varied filter throughout the world because different cultures have different values as a populous, and as an individual. Many of the same things come into play through this filter, pressure of acceptance, rejection, and other factors that are introduced in our everyday life. Through this, we all add our own bias and prejudices to everyday life and to others� days. This in turn affects them and the choices that they may have to make which in turn affects another group of people and a domino effect forms. One day decision or event causes everyone�s view to change in the span of a day . . . week . . . year. An opposing view is that the moral code of others does not really make much of a difference in the long run. That we don�t need this moral barrier and commonality because it is never present in everyday life, or that, if it is, it will not play into a large roll of the human day and perception of the events that take place in that day.

There are many problems of knowledge associated with this idea of filters and the way they affect the populous� view on the world. We don�t know if the mass media or information overload is really affecting anyone adversely at all. People may think the same way because they all so share that common moral magnitude. Also, we do not know how other feel about these certain subjects. This is only the account of one person�s feelings on a particular subject. We just do not know the internal workings of the human psyche and how external stimuli affects said psyche. Also, there are many other filters that affect our perception of the world as a whole, and many more that we are not even aware of. We don�t know what is affecting us and how, bad things might affect us in a good way or maybe the opposite is true about good things affecting us adversely.

In conclusion, there are many different filters that affect our way of life and our perception of the world and the people in it. All of these either clarify or dim our overall outlook on life, and if we learn to understand these filters and see through them then we would be able to have a broader and precise outlook on the world in our own mind.