GRE Issue Topic 81

Sample 1:

A healthy dose of skepticism is recommended when digesting a meal of facts delivered by someone else. In most cases, however, one should trust that those who have expertise in a specific field have done due diligence before making claims they presume to be true. Over time and with improved technology, new discoveries may appear that alter or contradict the current facts, but that doesn't mean they weren't true for the time and conditions under which they were espoused.

Some facts are true in the context in which they appear, but the reporters of such facts have cherry–picked them to serve their own purposes. This is never more obvious than during a presidential election. Social media makes these "facts" spread like wildfire, and the uninformed willingly accept them as gospel, especially if they coincide with their own political leanings. One of the most pervasive claims during the last presidential election was based on a chart depicting the yearly salaries of the President and members of Congress. The chart intended to inflame readers by stating that those individuals get that salary for life. While the dollar amounts were correct, the duration of said salaries was not. The President, senators and representatives get a pension based on their salaries. Another fact intended to shame Michelle Obama for having 26 assistants. What a waste of taxpayer money! A little research reveals that Laura Bush and other First Ladies had similar numbers of assistants. Displaying a little mistrust concerning facts presented for political purposes is wise.

Gossip is, perhaps, the most egregious misuse of facts. Generally repeated sotto voce, gossip can easily be misheard or misinterpreted. The listener then hurries off to spread the facts as he or she understood them. By the time the inflammatory remarks return to the subject of them, there is little truth remaining. In the case of gossip, the issue’s original claim and reason hold true, not just for the sake of accuracy but for the protection of those subjected to vicious gossip. Rumors have characteristics in common with gossip. However, while gossip is never intended to spread good news, rumors may be used to disseminate both good and bad information, and their effect can be just as harmful as gossip. I live in a small city that was devastated when a nearby Air Force base closed. It had been rumored that the base would close several times over the years. Each time that the rumors began, local citizens would become despondent with worry over their futures. A Save Loring Committee worked tirelessly to keep the base from closing and succeeded twice. When the rumors began the third time, the locals refused to believe them, and believed the more positive rumors that, once again, the base would remain open. It was like the little boy who cried wolf. As in the fable, the wolf, in the form of BRAC, did finally make an appearance, and the citizens of my town were caught unawares.

Some facts that have been disproved have little or no effect, either positive or negative, on the course of human development. In recent history, Pluto has lost its status as a planet. It was always a little suspect, anyway. So, our solar system is reduced to eight planets. This fact reversal has no effect on the way the world proceeds or stands as an argument that one should mistrust factual information. A much earlier astronomical reversal, however, did have an impact on the world. The Catholic Church believed the Earth to be the center of the Earth and all of the creatures in it, it must be the most important of His creations. Hence, the sun and other planets must be inferior and show obeisance to the Earth by revolving around it. In the sixteenth century, Copernicus developed a model that disproved the geocentric theory and validated the heliocentric theory that had been proposed centuries before. Even though the Church was wrong about the solar system, one should not necessarily mistrust everything that the Church proclaims to be fact.

Every day begins with the immutable fact that the sun will rise in the East and ends when the sun sets in the West. Much of what happens in that span of time is open to interpretation, but the average human will not question the events that occur or the facts they hear. Those who do so relinquish the ability to simply enjoy the day that they have been given. The habit of mistrusting those in authority leads to a life filled with uncertainty.

Sample 2:

In all fields of study the outcome is termed as facts. We all rely on facts which are presented before us with relevant explanations. If a piece of information is presented before us and there are enough proofs to make it viable then we are bound to accept it as a fact. I believe that if a study is a proved fact then there is certainly no doubt about its authenticity. It is quite likely that a fact which is proved correct today might yield some different results after a few years but that does not make the present facts inaccurate.

The term fact is generally associated with scientific studies and discoveries. Science is a very vast world and there is so much to explore and scientists keep making new assumptions every now and then. The assumptions are then studied and confirmed into facts. The outcome of one scientific study becomes the base of another scientific study. It was a known fact that cow’s milk was better than buffalo’s milk for infant consumption. A more recent study proved that infants who were on cow’s milk only, acquired iron deficiency. The deficiency was due to the fact that cow’s milk disabled iron absorption by the body. Although the older study could not bring this point into light but that study was also correct. The new fact certainly does not make the old study false but it aids the old study and thus it came into notice that it is important to feed an infant other fluids along with cow’s milk. Therefore, whatever studies are done the facts which are proved have certain amount of authenticity in them and they are not absolutely false.

Although most of the factual information is accurate but the facts are results of studies made by humans so they are bound to be incorrect sometimes. This generally happens in the field of medicines. Firstly, scientists would recommend a medicine for an ailment and in the next study it would be proved that the medicine has ill effects on human body.

Therefore, it is important for people to make their research with utmost care as if researches go wrong it can result in drastic consequences. We all are dependent on our scientists for new studies and discoveries and if they adopt a negligent approach then eventually we would suffer. Human life is precious and any study concerning it should be deliberate so that chances of getting facts wrong results are minimized. Although we are sufferers of such failed studies but at the same time it can not be forgotten that these scientists are humans after all and they are only doing their work. New and better technology aids their studies and thus they come with new and better results. It is not necessary that facts are always inaccurate but their viability can certainly be questioned.