The media as a catalyst for arrogant ignorance.
Especially at a liberal arts school one can easily observe students discussing politics and world issues on a regular basis. Unfortunately the people I hear talking about issues the most are those whose knowledge is based on snidbits of broadcasting heard here or there or at some point during class. I find news media these days, if anything, is most informative in the way that it provides younger generations to take small pieces of information and run with them. A teacher of mine dubs this "arrogant ignorance". I define this arrogant ignorance as an elevated position certain people uphold concerning world issues where the basis is a one-source segment of information, mostly pulled out of context after a few twists and turns. There are exceptions and I am completely generalizing and by no means am attempting to dismiss my own tendencies as to this arrogance however I feel the need to point out a commonly occuring observation. The majority of passionate discussion I hear in classes and on the street is directed by persons who feel an entitlement to share their firmly ingrained opinion regarding the subject. I find persons with the largest and widest knowledge base more often reserve judgement and opinion as a means to shaping their own and truly listening to the argument. It is unfortunate that a small snidbit of news has created in students the feeling that we know everything, especially considering the bias and misrepresentation present in current news media. That's my rant for this entry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment