They say mainstream media is the problem but I think social media is possibly more dangerous. The BBC or Sky, CNN or Fox says something that we think is biased and we naturally then don’t believe anything they say from then on. Karen from down the road however shares something that sounds outrageous (original poster a complete stranger) and we instantly share it if it feeds into our beliefs or anger. If it doesn’t we instantly disregard it and possibly think of reasons why we never liked her anyway.
Also we seem to have lost the ability to reason and look at both sides, we are so focused on being right or at the very least proving someone else wrong that we’ve lost sight of the truth.
The ‘right’ wont agree with anything if it appears to have been sourced from a ‘left’ wing page and vice versa. We’re moving into a crazy polarisation. Most of us will sit somewhere just either side of the fence. We wont agree with everything that the party we vote for says or does and we may even agree with some policies from ‘the other side’. You know what, that’s fine, we’re human we have that right.
My daughter was answering some questions on a book that she was given for homework and one of the questions was “what makes a good investigator?” Her answer astounded me with its current relevance, she said “someone who doesn’t not like the truth” going on to explain more eloquently, she was saying that if you find evidence or information that doesn’t support your original belief you should accept and investigate further with an open mind rather than having a hissy fit and thinking its ‘fake news’ or ‘planted’.
We’ve always got more to learn, kids never stop asking questions and are eager to learn, yet as adults we can think we’re fully informed and know enough to really hold a solid opinion. I admire passion in people, I have very strong beliefs about many things and I’m not sure many of them will change as its down to morality but opinions can change and be fluid based on information coming in and research.
We must learn the difference between strong will, passion and closed mindedness!!
