Fake News Phenomenon: Formation of Beliefs under Pragmatic Optics and Mathematical Education

Resumo

Background: Few studies in mathematics education have been looking at the new dynamics of communication with focus on the analysis of speeches propagated by false news. This social phenomenon is worrying: news that uses mathematical arguments to guide, shape, and reflect public opinion and popular thinking based on misleading information. Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to understand the role of mathematics education in the process of strengthening democracy. Data collection and analysis: A video published on a YouTube channel, in which mathematical arguments are used to convince public opinion about a certain point of view, was the object of the study whose result is presented in this paper. Design: With theoretical-methodological procedures that are based on the pragmatic theory of fixation of beliefs and on the verification of the mathematical content, the analysis adopted a qualitative approach. Setting and Participants: This is a study about a video considered false by news agencies, aired by a famous Brazilian journalist.  Results: The study of fake news and desinformation scenario has allowed us to observe that mathematical speeches linked to the ideology of mathematical certainty are responsible for the establishment of beliefs and the formation of opinions by authority and tenacity methods. Conclusions: We conclude that mathematical models and mathematical discourses used in virtual communication environments can be responsible for camouflaging the human factor in political decisions and obscuring the visibility of ethical and morality variables.