Evaluating Sources

Worldview

When evaluating whether information is good or bad, discussions often focus on bias. While it's true that many sources are biased, definitions of bias can vary greatly among individuals, especially in a politically divided landscape where each side claims accuracy and accuses the other of bias. Such accusations can deepen divisions and demonize differing viewpoints.

Additionally, bias is generally viewed negatively, making it hard for us to recognize our own. This can lead to apathy, with some concluding that since everyone is biased, seeking the truth is pointless. However, there is often a truth to be uncovered, even amid differing perspectives.

Instead of solely focusing on bias, it’s more constructive to consider worldview. Each of us has a worldview—a unique lens through which we interpret everything. Understanding our own worldview and that of others can foster more meaningful discussions and insights.

What World Does the Information Come From?

Behind every piece of information is a person, and deep within every person is their worldview. Remembering this can be helpful when we evaluate information because it can help us understand where the source is coming from.  It doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, or dishonest, or deluded. It may just mean they are looking at the information through a different lens.

Understanding this can help us to have a conversation, a discussion, rather than a personal argument. It can help us to treat people we disagree with as people, rather than as automatically evil representatives of the wrong point of view.

Like individuals, publications also have distinct worldviews that influence their choice of topics and language. For instance, The New York Times typically leans left, while the Wall Street Journal tends to lean right.

Rather than immediately labeling a source as biased, it's more productive to recognize its worldview and remain aware of it while reading. This allows us to engage with the source thoughtfully.

Of course, some sources really are flat-out biased, and not worth holding a conversation with. We must try not to leap to that conclusion just because they disagree with us.

What World Do You Come From?

It is important to not only consider the worldview of the source of information, but also to be conscious of our own worldview. . It is created by all those things that go into making you who you are — things like your parents, siblings, friends, religion or lack thereof, political stance, and even the books you've read, the shows you've seen, and especially the choices you've made throughout your whole life. All those things combine to give you a particular idea of how reality works. Think of it as the lens through which you view the world.

We interact with every single piece of information we receive, whether we are conscious of doing so or not. In order to be effective investigators of information, we must also investigate ourselves. 

When you feel attracted to a piece of information, or repulsed by it, ask yourself:

• Why are you feeling that way? Is it because the information itself is good or bad, reliable or not?
• Or is it because you feel that it confirms something important to me, or that it threatens something I value?

Being aware of your reactions to information doesn't mean you need to change your mind! Maybe your response to this piece of information is justified. But maybe it's a little too extreme. Or maybe it's just wrong. You don't know unless you are willing to take the uncomfortable risk of examining yourself.

Test Yourself

When Chase was six, he spent a week alone with his grandparents at their house on the Oregon coast. His grandpa held him steady in surf strong enough to knock him down. He took long walks on the beach with his grandma, who showed him the jellyfish and shells that had washed ashore. Each night ended with a beachside bonfire. His grandparents both passed away the next year, so he treasured the memory of that trip for the rest of his life. And he could never smell s’mores without also catching a whiff of the tang of the sea.

As a kid, Chase’s favorite book was Betty Ballantine’s The Secret Oceans, and his favorite movie was The Abyss. For a while, he dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and discovering a previously unknown species of intelligent aquatic life. After all, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, only five percent of the oceans have been explored and charted, so who knows what might be out there, waiting to be found? But he read that getting a job as a marine biologist was very difficult, so he shifted his focus to politics, and eventually became a congressman.

When Kadie was in third grade, the astronaut Stephanie Wilson visited her Boys & Girl’s Club and showed pictures and videos from her three Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station. Kadie never forgot hearing a fellow African American girl talk about the wonders of spaceflight or seeing the pictures of Stephanie with her hair floating around her head in almost zero gravity. Stephanie also talked about how spaceflight had helped spark technological breakthroughs like computers and medical equipment that made everyday life on Earth better.

As an adult, Kadie’s favorite book series is The Expanse, with its ever-broadening scope as it follows humanity’s transition into an interstellar era. She has also watched every season of Star Trek. Inspired to push herself forward and help society, she became a congresswoman.

One day, a bill appears in Congress, proposing cutting NASA’s budget and increasing the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Do you think Chase and Kadie will agree on how to vote on this bill?