Ian’s Thesis and Presentation

I thought it was really great to have the opportunity to watch Ian do his presentation and see the type of work that is put into getting a PHD. I really liked the thesis that he had come up with, the whole idea about “fake news.” It really must be a phenomena of our era, because I’m sure there would never be a place for it in any other time period. The freedom of speech that our country “allows us” has changed our society in so many ways.

I think that having the “fake news” shows, such as The Daily Show or The Rick Mercer Report keep the youth interested in what is going on in our world. I think that by putting an entertaining twist on what is going on in our world, it keeps us wanting to watch and keeps more teens involved (or at least informed) in the news. It is important for us to be involved and interested because so many of us aren’t voting when we have the opportunity to, and to have a TV program that informs us in an entertaining fashion is, to me, a big leap in our culture.

I liked the question period after his presentation, I found it interesting to hear the thoughts of others because it was a little difficult for me to think of something specific about his presentation that I had a question about. I felt like he had explained everything so well, I can’t imagine all the work that is put into creating a thesis and researching it and writing the presentation and memorizing it. I find it difficult to memorize a three minute speech, let alone a fifteen minute one. This makes me nervous about having to create my own thesis in my fourth year.