One of the things I decided not to do when I started this blog was to do anything too political. I never wanted to be that guy who writes endless rants about the bad guys versus the good guys. While I love politics and love being informed about current events, I just wanted to stay away from writing about it.
This is not going to be a political post either. While I am upset with what is happening in Washington, something else is bothering me more. It’s you. You are fucking up democracy.
Is it because I keep reading lies on Facebook? I originally thought that was what I was mad about, but then I realized that people were getting their information from these websites and believing that they are true information. People think that these websites are saving them from the liberal media or the Fox News conservative spin factory, and while I believe that the twenty-four hour TV news channels are awful talking heads selling their ideologies to the masses, I think the Internet is much worst.
The Internet should be the greatest information tool. I can look anything up I want to and find webpage after webpage on that subject. I can look up government documents and read the laws word for word. I have no excuse not to be a well-informed member of society. The Internet should be making us better voters.
It doesn’t seem that is true because most of the ‘news’ I see being viral are bullshit. Complete lies and the only reason they are popular is because people are lazy. I honestly think that people just want things to be right to vindicate their close-minded views.
I’m not picking on any side. Both liberals and conservative friends of mine are guilty of it. During the whole George W. Bush presidency, people were posting all kinds of knee jerk posts from the deep space of the Internet. Now we have tea party “republicans” posting complete made up garbage.
Journalism seems dead in America because no one takes the time to research what he or she is reading. People just want to be right, so if an article or a website coincides with what they believe, they call that news. People decide on their beliefs based on their emotional response.
Here is some advice: research your arguments. Don’t just stop at websites that share your beliefs, be okay with reading your ‘enemies’ websites. When in doubt, go to the source. If you are just mad or excited about the Affordable Care Act, read the actual law, not some interpretation opinion of the law.
Stay away from memes. These are childish and immature. If it is a picture of a politician looking dumb with a quote, its probably bullshit. If it likens a law with some simple analogy of common sense, it is probably not true.
I have made the mistake of trying to correct people who post lies on Facebook and it has mostly been met with more lies and/or personal attacks on my character. I’m not disagreeing with their opinion, I’m just saying that the article they posted is wrong and isn’t true. Nothing pisses me off than the spread of misinformation. I have done it to people that have posted articles that share my own opinions, but shared stats or facts that aren’t true.
When reading an article on the Internet you must ask yourself some questions. Is it true? Where is the author getting his or her information? Are there links to his or her sources? Are there any facts, or is it just an opinion piece?
I’m not trying to persuade anyone to change his or her beliefs; I just want all of you to be more informed. The Internet is such a great tool, but it also is dangerous because it is also helping people to be misinformed. Unlike newspapers and magazines, there are no editors fact checking. Especially now when the political landscape could land us in deep-water do we need to be empowered with knowledge, so we can make better decisions in the voting booth.
If you are trying to persuade me to change my opinion on a matter, you are going to have to do better than memes, unfounded Internet articles and knee jerk emotional responses. I will listen. I try very hard to stay abreast of current policies and laws that affect my life. I am very comfortable being wrong, if I find facts that prove it. I don’t make decisions on my opinions based on feelings, funny or mean pictures or unfounded opinions.
Please make the Internet more civil so we can save ourselves from becoming stupid and intolerant of each other. Please become as well informed as you are passionate of your political beliefs. This is the future we are talking about and the Republicans and the Democrats are not two rival college football teams playing in their annual civil war game. Be right with facts and be okay with being wrong so we can become better people and a better country.
Your lies and opinions are hurting America. Falling for propaganda is making you a slave to not progressing as a human being and making America slip into stupidity. Take the few minutes to confirm your neat news story is true. When you don’t and you post it and I read it and I do my research and find that the story is not true or half true, I just think you’re an idiot. It also makes your voice not heard because I don’t trust your opinions anymore. You have become a liability to my ability to be open minded to your causes.
I have changed my opinions before. I have had long civil discourses with people that have changed my mind on things that I was pretty set on. The reason I was persuaded in an argument is that it stayed civil. My colleague on the other side never used name-calling or challenged my intelligence for believing what I believed to be true. The second point that altered my opinion was the person arguing me used facts. He used stats, history and links to organizations that were well informed on a subject so I could read expert written information. The third point was he was always open to my side of the argument. He never shouted me down or dismissed my opinion and was just as ready to accept my opinion as right if I was right.
I just want the truth. That is all I want. I want facts and stats to be the argument, not opinions and knee-jerk emotional responses. I want a country that can have a civil conversation about the things that are important. If we are going to be a great nation, than we need to become great. We need to be educated and armed with facts and we need to be ready to welcome other opinions and voices. This is not the time to be tribal and be flipping gang signs at each other. This is the time to become the well-informed Americans we can be. If we don’t, we will have not lost this country to one side or the other, we will have lost this country because of ignorance and laziness.