Writing, Reality and Brummet

I speak; therefore, I think. I see; therefore, I know.

Language is malleable, it bends and twists around our perception, wrapping itself into a package and displaying to the world how we see it. Our reality folds in the same ways, overlapping with conceived notions of truths and is a journey to Truth. The Internet has the power to place language in a context that can either confirm your notion of what reality is or displace it. It's a collective space with a myriad of smaller spaces geared towards topic specific discourse. The people that occupy these spaces add to the discussion, implementing their own meanings and interpretations of reality, which is all done through writing. Brummet's three meanings of epistemic rhetoric can be applied to this course because it's important to note the effects what you write can have on your readers, this is especially the case when it's technology based as information is being transferred all the time.

The Internet is filled with billions of people each with their own our perception of reality and set of truths expressed through writing. We've taken this process and placed it on a platform in which anyone can address what you've written and someone is bound to question or agree with you on some degree because they may share or differ from your point of view. This correlates with the mob mentality often seen on the internet, it's easy to flock behind a couple of sentences and charge at someone through your perception of reality.

If reality is so malleable is there a collective reality in which we fall under? Is our reality made up of billions of tinier ones? In this digital age we are heavily influenced by visuals, if something is happening somewhere but we can't see it is it somehow still a part of our perception? Why is it when something is written on the Internet we're readily going to accept it as truth until proven otherwise? This is especially the case with a lot of satirical websites or programs like The Onion and The Daily Show. I was on Tumblr and saw this post, which people believed to be true while knowing it isn't a reliable source. Do we seek information to meet the expectations of our reality?