In this day and age, it seems that no matter where one looks, there is always someone judging someone else, whether they have all the facts straight or not. As wrong as this is, it seems nearly unavoidable. Sometimes misinformation can be passed from person to person, which paves the way for others to judge. Other times -if it is on a larger scale- the blame can be placed on the media and their spin on a particular story. The media has this grip on our society, allowing them to feed us the information that they want, and in whatever way they please. People believe the media is reliable, and it is viewed as an easy way to get information without having to go to a lot of extra effort to get information. I’m not saying that the media is always feeding us lies or trying to make us believe half-truths, because not all media outlets are sources for misinformation. However, media outlets exist that do, in fact, present information to the public that isn’t exactly the whole truth.

      Media has the power to put an individual on a pedestal and make people love that person, but they can also rip someone to shreds, turning spectators against him or her. It all depends on how information is presented to the public. Few people go and do the research to verify all the things they hear- they just accept it as truth, and move on. Again, regardless of if it is even true or not. A prime example of this, would be Sarah Palin. The media has had quite the heyday with her, beginning back in 2008 with the Obama-McCain Presidential race. They seemed to nitpick and rip apart everything about her, sometimes even talking things out of context, so they could present the information about her to the public in a derogatory fashion. Personally, I respect Sarah Palin and agree with a lot of the things she says. I think she’s rather smart and knows a lot about leadership and how things need to be done. However, many people feel a bitterness towards her or they just ‘don’t like her.’ The media’s portrayal of her is not exactly good, so if someone is getting all of their information about her from certain sources in the media, then I can see how a person might become indifferent about her, even though the information they acquired might not be completely true. Now if a person has gone out and done a little more research, and learned about the things she did for the state of Alaska, and even our country and they still don’t like or even respect her, then that is understandable, because at least you have made an effort to find and locate truthful facts.

      This kind of thing happens with a lot of people, but it seems to happen more so in the political world, and of course, there are many reasons for that: personal values, political beliefs, social standards, etc. Media outlets, like newspapers, magazines and news channels, all have the freedom to print and talk about what they would like, due to the first amendment. However, sometimes the information that they give out isn’t true, and that is when it really becomes necessary for people to start looking at other sources so that they can find out what is really true, and what isn’t. Bottom line? Don’t judge people based on how a person or media outlet has portrayed them. When in doubt, go find it out – for yourself.