So - its election season, there are a great many commercials on about all of the people that are running for election this year. I would say my perception of these commercials is that every single one of them is vitriolic and finger pointing - calling the other candidate(s) to the mat, blaming them for everything from babies dieing to global warming. These commercials count on being able to make the viewing public THINK the way that the makers of the commercials would like.
Why do I mention this at all, you may be asking. Well I ran into a blog post based on a tweet from a friend of mine. The post is talking about people being misinformed or under informed and being happy to essentially remain that way. The post points out that a seeming larger and larger population of people break their world down into sound bites and small 'parroting' points that allows them to glom onto someone elses opinion on a particular topic. This process of not thinking critically about the information that is being presented provides a reinforcing factor for individuals being uninformed on topics ranging from politics to home cooking to sex.
Listen folks - it is easier than it seems to get information on all sorts of interesting topics, including topics pertaining to elections in the US. The internet has made the information infinitely more available than it was previously - leaving little excuse if you don't spend time reading or at least looking for information to corroborate the things that are 'dished'/'spoon feed' to you on tv and popular media. The same statement holds true for information and communication in your day to day jobs. Please - think critically about what you are told, look for additional information from other sources - spend time attempting to put yourself in other peoples shoes and asking in your head "WHY" someone might have said something the way in which they did, specifically to you. You will be better off for spending the additional time in comparison to just thinking like 'They' want you to think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It doesn't help that most people invest some time into reading newspapers, listening to radio news or watching television news but ALL of these sources spend many times more time discussing "the horserace" (who's ahead in the polls or the money-raising game) than they do covering the candidates' actual positions on issues. Going on the internet and doing some research of your own is the only real solution.
I agree to some degree. The problem is really that most people are so content to parrot a talking point that may or may not be true. No one goes to verify the points being made to make sure they are not 100% BS. Shame really - it means that people get into office when they probably shouldn't EVER be in office.
Post a Comment