Bias in "True Enough"

From reading the first half of "True Enough", Manjoo has showed me how biased we all are.  Nearly everything that is presented to us is formulated by a biased opinion, and then we formulate our own biased opinions.  Statistics are analyzed in a biased manner, in order to present facts that seem to support a certain view.  The major news networks, such as Fox and CNN, only present biased viewpoints to us now.  

Reporters like Anderson Cooper have made it big by voicing their opinions.  Cooper went after government officials during Hurricane Katrina because of their slow response time and urgency to aid disaster victims.  As viewers, we like to listen to the viewpoints of those who agree with us, as they reinforce our already existing biases.  

The way in which a person presents information is often more influential than what they are actually saying.  The Dr. Fox experiments show us that we are more tuned in to accepting peripheral cues than actually processing information and forming our own opinions.  Because Dr. Fox lectured students in a very expressive manner, they rated him very highly, even though there was no relevant content within his speech.  Just because he appeared to be knowledgeable, and he presented his argument in a persuasive manner, everybody loved him.  This is similar to how patients took incorrect advice on cold treatment because the doctor seemed warm and trustworthy, whereas they ignored a doctor's proper advice because he seemed careless and boring.  Our biases affect our decisions everyday.