The Responsibility of Staying Informed

Responsibility is hard work.  It really is.  Think about it.  It's a lot easier to sit there on the couch after work and watch the news shows on TV, nod sagely, and pretend you're being informed of the events of the day.   But for the most part, you're not being informed as much as you're being indoctrinated.

Most people will agree that the mainstream media is biased  to the left, but when a story airs, many viewers are accepting the content of the newscast as gospel.  MSNBC, CNN, ABC and CBS news shows have a definite political spin:  their stories must fit their liberal, progressive narrative.  FOX news presents a stark contrast to the far left, but still could be even more conservative. I know some folks who still swear by CNN as the end-all, be-all of news and information, and they'll admit that, while yes, there's some spinning going on, the content is pretty much on point.  Rubbish.  Contrast the TV version of a given national or international news story with an online version of the same, and you'll find an altogether different presentation.  Same with newspapers.  For example, I get two papers daily, one is far left progressive, the other slightly right of center - I wouldn't call it conservative by any means.  But it's enlightening to read the same story from the AP in the lefty paper, and then see the same story from McClatchy - which is hardly a conservative outlet - WSJ or some other news source in the center-leaning paper.

A classic example of media influence is the gun control debate.  Piers Morgan and other talking heads know for a fact that more guns in our culture will result in more crime and in more gun deaths.  To them that's a fact.  But the reality is that more guns in the hands of responsible law abiding citizens actually reduce crime.  In cities with the most draconian gun laws exists the highest incident of murder and gun related crime.  See John Lott's exhaustive study, Guns and Crime.  Coloradans just recalled two of their state legislators who pushed through unpopular gun control measures, and every state now has right to carry laws.  Conversely, Washington D.C., New York and Chicago, cities with the strictest gun laws, have the highest crime rates in the country.  Chicago just recently became Murder Capital, USA.  But facts can't get in the way of the progressive narrative:  Piers Morgan and others will be on TV again tonight with the same old tired emotional pablum, and the uniformed viewer will lap it up.

So how to do we stay informed rather than propagandized?  I suggest saturation.  I watch CNN and FOX, I read two newspapers daily, a monthly business journal or two, and I visit four news portals daily on the internet.  By staying neutral - that is, by paying attention and not screaming in utter astonishment at the nonsense and drivel you will surely see and hear, you can begin identify the real from the spin.  From that you may form your own educated and informed opinion.  That is the responsibility we have as Americans: to stay informed so that our voice can be one of reason, logic and lawfulness. When we vote at the civic, state or national levels, we must have a educated and informed grasp of the issues.  That is our responsibility for being and remaining free.

Try it and see what you learn.  Be free; be informed.