Analysis of a Biased Editorial: Lebron James is Better than Michael Jordan Ever Was by Luther Campbell

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/05/lebron_james_is_better_than_michael_jordan_ever_was.php

In this editorial the author Luther Campbell, exemplified his beliefs on why Lebron James will easily surpass Michael Jordan in basketball history using slightly embellished facts. He utilizes the bandwagon effect which is when someone leads to be more attracted to something because everyone else is trending to like it. This author is on the Lebron James bandwagon simply because he has great statistics so far in his career. Saying that he will pass Jordan is a joke because Lebron still has half of his career to play, and their is full possibility that he could sustain a career ending injury. The author believes "any dunk Jordan has done, Lebron can do better" which is very biased. If Lebron was such an astronomical dunker why doesn't he participate in the Dunk Contest every All-Star break and prove his the best dunker like Jordan did. The bandwagon effect is an unconvincing bias in my opinion because I don't like to follow the mainstream trends.

Another cognitive bias used by the author is the distinction effect. He puts Lebron and Jordan side by side and claims that Lebron is a much better teammate because he always cheers them up. I find this to be false because eventhough Jordan did go to casinos and clubs after the games does not make him a bad teammate. It only meant he wanted to relax after a long game  or try to expand his riches! We all have tried to at least once! The reasons he uses for this argument are biased and unfair because they were two different types of people off the court that should not be compared.

A third cognitive biased used by the author is availability heuristic. Availability heuristic is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater "availability" in memory, which can be influenced by how recent the memories are or how unusual or emotionally charged they may be. Campbell exemplifies what Lebron can do later in his career when he really has no idea what the future has coming for Lebron James, players have had great careers only to slip into a career ending slump. Lebron will have trouble playing at this level of play for the rest of his career. Michael Jordan also many issues off the court such as the death of his father, something Lebron has never had to go through. The author utilizes many cognitive biases in his editorial and is biased towards Lebron James.