Week Four

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Recommended: How media shape public perceptions

A current topic that is trending in society is the debate against drug testing welfare recipients. While I completely agree that welfare recipients should undergo a drug screening to receive benefits, various articles I have stumbled upon use “privacy rights” and “invasion of privacy” as a fallacy to strengthen their claim. While these articles are valid and credible (and really persuasive), there are a few weak points to the argument that must be pointed out.
Take for example the first source, “Florida Law on Drug Testing for Welfare is Struck Down” (2013). The article is based around Judge Mary S. Scriven ruling that “no circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied”. As a rebuttal, I would like to point out the obvious argument: mandatory drug testing for employment. It may be a private institute but whatever aspect you look at it with, it’s still an invasion of privacy. The government cannot invade ones privacy, but a private institute has every right to? The source itself states several rulings shot down the requirement as a law because it was in violation to the fourth amendment: illegal searching.
Evaluating this source, I discovered it was a valid resource; however, it is a newspaper article and the media has a tendency of presenting facts with fallacies to entertain and persuade readers in a particular direction, usually the direction of the majority. For example, the article states that ten states have tried passing laws requiring drug testing for welfare and only two of these bills were passed. Then, the article title “Florida Law on Drug Testing for Welfare Is Struck Down” strengthens the article. Persuasion is a powerful tool. While the ...

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...dible. The search for information that was not misleading and factual was near to none. The sources I did locate were valid and reliable information; however, they were not credible because the fallacies and approach turned factual information into a misleading opinion.

Works Cited

American Civil Liberties Union (n.d.). Drug Testing Welfare Recipients, retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/drug-testing-welfare-recipients

Sherman, A. (December 31, 2013). Tampa Bay Times. Court Strikes Down Drug Test For TANF, retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/florida/promises/scott-o-meter/promise/600/require-drug-screening-for-welfare-recipients/

Robles, F. (December 31, 2013). New York Times. Flordia Law on Drug Tests for Welfare is Struck Down, retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/us/florida-law-on-drug-testing-for-welfare-is-struck-down.html?_r=1

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