2 Opinion Page
2 Opinion Page August 1 2022 | World and Press Why we need information literacy classes for students INFORMATION We have to provide students the tools necessary to effectively navigate the information ecosystem and discern fact from fiction. Training | mündl. Prüfung By Victor Shi 1 FIFTY YEARSago, the national networks CBS, ABC, and NBC dominated television screens in America and were the primary way voters obtained information: Each network, along with newspapers and radio, told its audience facts first, and all agreed on what the facts were. That meant Americans had a shared understanding of the truth – which is what led to the erosion of both Democratic and Republican public support for then-President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation. 2 But the time of Democrats and Republicans agreeing on facts is no more. In the early 1980s, cable news networks emerged. The late ’80s and early ’90s brought the internet, and Six Degrees became the first social media platform later in the ’90s. With each development, avenues for information grew more abundant. People weren’t confined to newspapers and the three news stations for information. Instead, we gained the ability to access information anywhere – and with less and less scrutiny. 3 As access to information without oversight expanded, mit Interpretation comment misinformation skyrocketed. Readers, viewers, and listeners became increasingly vulnerable to believing falsehoods. Consider the aftermath of the 2020 election: Donald Trump took to social media and, with the help of far-right platforms and news networks, at one point persuaded nearly 70% of Republicans to believe that Joe Biden was not duly elected president, a poll by Suffolk University and ‘USA Today’ found. But there is hope for the truth to prevail – and our effort begins by providing students the tools necessary to effectively navigate the information ecosystem and discern fact from fiction. 4 I am a member of Generation Z, and we are more plugged in than any previous generation. Born between 1997 and 2012, members of Gen Z do not know of a world without social media and the internet. From the day we were born, we instantly became connected with each other virtually. With 97% of those ages 13 to 17 using at least one of seven social media platforms, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center Survey, Gen Zers are defined by social media because it is deeply embedded into our identity. Guns, Guns, Guns. | Cartoon: Guy Parsons, PoliticalCartoons.com 5 Gen Zers do not merely use social media to connect with others – we use it to create change. Take, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Social media became an essential tool for young people to organize and promote information about racial justice and equality. … 6 However, as savvy as Gen Zers are with social media, we are not immune to the effects of misinformation. While there are plenty of young people using social media to promote facts, there are just as many employing social media to promote lies. In fact, researchers have found that anti-science and anti-vaccine videos on TikTok have reportedly been viewed by people as young as nine years old. 7 Misinformation will never be extinguished – especially in the free-for-all of undermoderated social media platforms and channels such as Fox News, whose bottom line depends on retaining an audience that believes its extreme statements. To counter this, we should look to the classroom. For students like me and members of future generations who will spend a lot of time online – and therefore will be particularly susceptible to seeing misinformation – information literacy classes could be exactly what is needed to help young people become better stewards of information. 8 At its core, information literacy classes would be designed to give students critical thinking skills for analyzing information on the internet: In other words, knowing how to evaluate information, distinguish between a lie and a fact, and conduct a factcheck. And fortunately, this is a concept that is underway across the country. Illinois became the first state in the country to require an information literacy class for high schoolers starting with the 2022–23 school year. Better yet, eight states, including Massachusetts and Florida, World and Press erscheint 2 × monatlich (Juli und Dezember als Doppelausgabe) in der Carl Ed. Schünemann kg · Die Sprachzeitung · Schünemann-Haus 28174 Bremen Telefon: +49(0)421.36903-76 Fax: +49(0)421.36903-48 www.sprachzeitungen.de info@sprachzeitungen.de Verantwortliche Redakteurin Katrin Günther Redaktionsleitung Sprach zeitungen Melanie Helmers Redaktion Siobhan Bruns Sebastian Stumpf Franziska Lange Aletta Rochau Carol Richards Jessica Stuart Gestalterische Konzeption www.bmalx.de Layout & Umbruch Christoph Lück, Britta Leuchtmann Druck Druckzentrum Nordsee GmbH are considering bills that would require media literacy education. One antidote to misinformation is understanding what it is and how to combat it. 9 Reaching consensus on basic facts is becoming increasingly more difficult – to the point in which democracy has become precarious. It will take all hands on deck to reverse course, and the best place to start may just be in the classroom – endowing young people with the skills to identify lies whenever they encounter them. 10 Information literacy classes for students may well be our nation’s best hope of returning to an era of mutually agreed upon truths. © 2022 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 0 – 1 INFORMATION LITERACY “"lItr´si‘ Kompetenz im Umgang mit Informationsvielfalt — effectively effektiv; erfolgreich — to navigate s. zurechtfinden in — to discern “dI"s‰…n‘ unterscheiden — network Sender — understanding Auffassung — erosion “I"r´UZ´n‘ Schwund; Verlust 2 cable news network private Nachrichtensender — to emerge “I"m‰…dZ‘ aufkommen — avenue (fig) Quelle — to grow abundant “´"bønd´nt‘ immer reichlicher werden — confined to beschränkt auf — scrutiny “"skru…tIni‘ eingehende Prüfung 3 oversight Kontrolle — misinformation Fehlinformationen — to skyrocket sprunghaft zunehmen — vulnerable “"vøln´r´b´l‘ anfällig — falsehood “"fO…lsUd‘ Unwahrheit — consider … man denke an … — the aftermath of die Zeit nach — to take to … h.: auf … gehen — duly rechtmäßig — poll Umfrage — to prevail s. durchsetzen 4 – 6 plugged in “pløgd‘ (fig) vernetzt — instantly “"Inst´ntli‘ sofort — embedded verankert — merely “"mI´li‘ bloß — racial justice Gerechtigkeit für Menschen unterschiedl. ethnischer Herkunft — savvy “"sœvi‘ versiert — to promote h.: weiterverbreiten — vaccine “"vœksi…n‘ Impfstoff; h.: Impfen — reportedly Berichten zufolge 7 to extinguish “Ik"stINgwIS‘ h.: eliminieren — free-for-all (fig) unregulierter Bereich — undermoderated “Æ--"mÅd´reItId‘ kaum moderiert — bottom line Gewinn — to retain behalten — to counter entgegenwirken — susceptible to “s´"sept´b´l‘ empfänglich für — to be a steward of s.th. h.: mit etw. umgehen 8 core Kern — critical thinking skills Fähigkeit, kritisch zu denken — to evaluate “I"vœljueIt‘ bewerten — to distinguish “dI"stINgwIS‘ unterscheiden — to be underway im Gange sein; h.: umgesetzt werden — bill Gesetzentwurf — antidote “"œntId´Ut‘ Gegenmittel — to combat bekämpfen 9 – 10 consensus Konsens — precarious “prI"ke´ri´s‘ unsicher; gefährdet — all hands on deck (fig) die Mithilfe aller — to reverse “rI"v‰…s‘ revidieren — to endow “In"daU‘ ausstatten — to mutually agree upon s.th. “"mju…tSu´li‘ s. gemeinsam auf etw. einigen impressum ISSN 0509-1632 Die in World and Press veröffent lichten Artikel bringen Meinungen der zitierten Zeitungen, aber nicht in jedem Fall die der Redaktion zum Ausdruck. Textkürzungen vorbehalten. | By special arrangement with proprietors of copyrights. Copyright strictly reserved under the Berne Convention © 2022 Kündigungs bedingungen Nach Ablauf des ersten Bezugsjahres ist das Jahresabo monatlich kündbar. Das Schnupperabo geht über in ein Jahresabo, wenn es nicht spätestens einen Monat vor Ablauf gekündigt wird. Es gelten unsere aktuellen AGB. Datenschutz Die personenbezogenen Daten werden auf der Basis der geltenden Datenschutzgesetze, insbesondere der EU-Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO) sowie des Bundesdatenschutzgesetzes (BDSG), zweckgebunden erhoben und verarbeitet. Wir geben Ihre Daten nur weiter, soweit ein Gesetz dies vorschreibt oder wir Ihre Einwilligung eingeholt haben. Die personenbezogenen Daten sind für die Lieferung Ihrer Sprachzeitung erforderlich. Unsere Informationen zum Datenschutz nach Art. 13 und Art. 14 der EU-DSGVO können Sie über unsere Kontaktdaten einsehen oder anfordern.
World and Press | August 1 2022 In Focus 3 A museum built in memory of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s parents in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, seen in April 2022. | Photo: Getty Images The two faces of a ruined Sri Lanka ECONOMY A frenzy of building on borrowed money in the Rajapaksa family’s home district illustrates the hubris that led the country into economic collapse. By Mujib Mashal and Skandha Gunasekara in Hambantota, Sri Lanka 1 THE international airport, built a decade ago in the name of Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa family, is devoid of passenger flights, its staff lingering idly in the cafe. The cricket stadium, also constructed on the family’s orders, has had only a few international matches and is so remote that arriving teams face the risk of wildlife attacks. And then there is the port, the biggest of all the monuments to the Rajapaksas, a white elephant visited almost as much by actual elephants as by cargo ships before it was handed over to China in the face of impossible debt. 2 As Sri Lanka grapples with its worst-ever economic crisis, with people waiting hours for fuel and cutting back on food, nowhere is the reckless spending that helped wreck the country more visible than in Hambantota, the Rajapaksa family’s home district in the south. 3 This enormous waste – more than billion spent on the port, 0 million on the airport, nearly 0 million on underused roads and bridges, and millions more (figures vary) on the cricket stadium – made Hambantota a throne to the vanity of a political dynasty that increasingly ran the country as a family business. 4 The frenzy of building on borrowed money, with little hope of immediate return on the investment, was in essence the payoff for the family’s triumphant declaration of victory in 2009 after a three-decade-long civil war against the Tamil Tigers, an insurgency that had taken up the cause of discrimination against the ethnic Tamil minority. 5 With Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president, then at the peak of his powers, he did what many nationalist strongmen do: erect tributes to himself. Cash wasn’t a problem at the time, as Sri Lanka was finding international goodwill after ending the war, and China was emerging as a willing lender around the globe. 6 That’s now all gone. Sri Lanka is an international basket case whose foreign reserves – which once stood at more than billion under the Rajapaksas – have dwindled to almost nothing. The collapse is partly a result of the loss of tourism during the pandemic, a problem made worse as war has kept away many of the Russians and Ukrainians who used to visit in large numbers. But the family’s economic mismanagement and denial of festering problems have also contributed mightily. 7 With food prices rising, electricity often cut, and lifesaving medicines scarce, protesters have pushed Rajapaksa, 76, out of his latest position – prime minister – and are demanding that his brother Gotabaya, 72, give up the presidency. 8 This month, after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters attacked peaceful protesters in the capital, Colombo, angry residents in Hambantota went after the symbols of grandiosity and privilege that dot the district. Local citizens who might once have supported the Rajapaksas for their ardent Buddhist Sinhalese nationalism now swarmed the family’s mansions, pelting them with stones and smashing windows. They destroyed monuments built in the Rajapaksas’ honor and set ablaze the homes of supportive lawmakers accused of amassing wealth and hoarding fuel as the nation suffered. … 9 The [Rajapaksa] family has been a political presence in Sri Lanka for much of the seven decades since the country gained independence from Britain. While the father, D.A. Rajapaksa, was a prominent lawmaker in the 1950s, it was Mahinda Rajapaksa who cemented the family as a dynasty that would rule Sri Lanka for much of the past 20 years. The youngest member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament in 1970, he was seen as a “political artist” who could cast himself as both a man of the people and an assertive leader. 10 But in recent years, age and illness seemed to be catching up with Rajapaksa. That exposed a fact that the post-civil war triumphalism and lavish spending had papered over: He and his family were inexpert stewards of the government, especially on economic issues. 11 “If you are investing in debt, you should really be looking at return – and quick return. You can’t do all your long-term, hard infrastructure projects on debt,” said Eran Wickramaratne, a former banker turned state minister of finance. “We completely overleveraged ourselves, and the returns are not there.” When the Rajapaksas were out of the government from 2014 to 2019, Wickramaratne said, officials found that the reckless spending had worsened the long-standing structural problems of Sri Lanka’s economy: a budget deficit and a balance-of-trade shortfall. 12 After the Rajapaksas returned to power in 2019, they orchestrated a complete takeover: Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, Mahinda Rajapaksa became prime minister, and many other family members took Cabinet seats or other senior positions. With their power consolidated, they announced broad tax cuts – rapidly undoing the work of aligning Sri Lanka’s spending more with its means – and made a disastrous decision to ban chemical fertilizers in hopes of turning the country toward organic farming. 13 “The present crisis, I would say, is a crisis of governance,” Wickramaratne said. “The twin deficits we have always had – it’s just that the governments have managed it.” © 2022 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 0 – 1 FRENZYWahn — on borrowed money auf Kredit — hubris “"hju…brIs‘ Überheblichkeit — ruling herrschend — devoid of ohne — passenger flight Passagierflug — to linger idly “"lINg´‘ tatenlos herumsitzen — remote entlegen — monument Denkmal — white elephant (fig) Investitionsruine — cargo ship Frachtschiff — debt Schulden 2 – 3 to grapple with s.th. mit etw. kämpfen — fuel Treibstoff — reckless leichtsinnig; maßlos — to wreck “rek‘ ruinieren — visible offensichtlich — billion Milliarde — underused “Æ--"-‘ nicht ausgelastet — vanity “"vœn´ti‘ Eitelkeit — family business Familienunternehmen 4 immediate sofortig — return on investment Kapitalrendite (r. Rendite) — in essence “"es´ns‘ im Wesentlichen — payoff Lohn — triumphant “traI"ømf´nt‘ triumphal — civil war Bürgerkrieg — Tamil Tigers Befreiungstiger von Tamil Eelam — insurgency “In"s‰…dZ´nsi‘ Aufstand; h.: Rebellenbewegung — ethnic minority ethn. Minderheit 5 strongman Machthaber; Autokrat — to erect errichten — goodwill Wohlwollen — to emerge hervortreten — lender Kreditgeber 6 – 7 basket case hoffnungsloser Fall — foreign reserves Devisenreserven — to dwindle schrumpfen — mismanagement Misswirtschaft — denial “dI"naI´l‘ Leugnen — festering schwelend — mightily “"maItIli‘ in ungewöhnlich hohem Maße — scarce “ske´s‘ knapp — presidency Präsidentschaft 8 grandiosity “Ægrœndi"Ås´ti‘ Prunk — to dot s.th. über etw. verstreut liegen — ardent “"A…d´nt‘ glühend — Sinhalese “ÆsIN´"li…z‘ singhalesisch — to swarm (a place) “swO…m‘ (zu e-m Ort) strömen — mansion “"mœnS´n‘ Villa — to pelt bewerfen — to smash einschlagen — to set ablaze “´"bleIz‘ in Brand setzen — lawmaker Parlamentarier(in) — to amass “´"mœs‘ anhäufen — to hoard hamstern 9 – 10 to cement (fig) zementieren — to cast o.s. s. präsentieren — assertive “´"s‰…tIv‘ durchsetzungsfähig — to catch up with s.o. jdn. einholen — to expose offenlegen — lavish “"lœvIS‘ verschwenderisch — to paper over (fig) übertünchen — inexpert “I"neksp‰…t‘ ungeschickt; dilettantisch — steward Verwalter(in) 11 overleveraged “Æ--"li…v´rIdZd‘ überschuldet — long-standing langjährig — budget deficit Haushaltsdefizit; s.w.u. twin deficit Zwillingsdefizit — balance-of-trade shortfall Handelsbilanzdefizit 12 – 13 to orchestrate “"O…kIstreIt‘ organisieren — takeover Übernahme — to consolidate “k´n"sÅlIdeIt‘ festigen — broad weitreichend — tax cut Steuersenkung — to undo rückgängig machen — to align “´"laIn‘ anpassen — means h.: verfügbare Mittel — disastrous “dI"zA…str´s‘ katastrophal — fertilizer Düngemittel — organic farming ökologische Landwirtschaft — governance “"gøv´n´ns‘ Regierungsführung
