A Practice in Skepticism
Johnston makes very valid points in his article. The main thrust of what he’s saying is that even though there is so much hype about the crisis that is supposedly hitting our economy, journalists and everyone else for that matter have to take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture.
We shouldn’t react immediately to all the warnings and doomsday announcements. Don’t buy into the hype is what Johnston is saying. Take a look at what is really happening, assess for yourself, think critically about how certain changes impact the market and how these really play out. It’s not as simple as it all seems.
Johnston’s arguments were very solid. He gave explicit examples from his own personal experiences with bank loans in order to get his argument across.
He didn’t claim to be an expert and didn’t even try to convince his reader through hard facts. He simply stated the bank loan offers he received as well as the information he got from sources regarding banks. The entire article came across as a persuasion to the reader to go out and see for himself/herself the validity of what he was saying.
ly panic and fret about the country’s economy. Rash decisions and even rasher investment in actions by groups that pretend to be the solution to the crisis are unwise. These principles apply not just to the present economic crisis but to all situations that one may come across.
It’s not enough to simply know the facts and to accept the facts presented by others. A practice in skepticism is truly needed especially in journalism. When one is charged with the responsibility of disseminating valuable information to the public, discerning the real facts is crucial. One has to be skeptical until the facts have been logically pieced together.
