Truth Is In The Ear Of The Beholder Analysis

Columnist Gregory Rodriguez has written about things such as immigration, political issues, as well as rumors. In “Truth is in the Ear of the Beholder” he discusses why people believe rumors for many reasons from trying to make themselves feel better, wanting it to be true and making sense of the world around them. Rumors can happen to anyone, including the President of the United States, usually very controversial, but that doesn’t prevent rumors from being told or believed. While he brings legitimate points to his argument to persuade readers there are also some fault in them as well. Rumors are processed differently as people hear them because of their own desires. As Rodriquez says “[s]uccessful propagators of fringe theories don’t just send random balloons into the atmosphere” (Rodriquez 220). This means certain people are targeted to believe rumors over others. Rumors target people’s assumptions, which have to do with past or present emotions produced about individuals or a group’s situation. Although, it was believed education played a role in who would believe a rumor when heard, Rodriguez tells of a survey in 1994 that produced …show more content…
Rodriguez uses a 2004 experiment to show have some rumors won’t change people’s minds, even after evidence is shown to disagree with it. Author Taylor Clark also discusses the one of the points Rodriguez has made about rumors in the article “The 8 1/2 Laws of Rumor Spread” stating “[f]ear breeds rumor. The more collective anxiety a group has, the more inclined it will be to start up the rumor mill” (Clark). During tragic times rumors will grow this can be during war time, social unrest, and disasters. Rumors develop not only because of possible life changing events, but also due to less significance reasons, dealing with everyday