Matt Masur on HuffPo plays a pleasant trick on us by writing a headline suggesting Bernie Sanders could still become President this January, and using this to slide into the same old rant on being a responsible Internet user:
As John Oliver correctly pointed out Sunday night, folks are being fed what they want to hear and they’re eating it up like a starving person. The most important thing in a functional society is a well-informed public. What we have now is not only uninformed but misinformed masses. That’s something that should scare us all.
The most important thing in a functional society is a well-informed public. What we have now is not only uninformed but misinformed masses.
How do we combat this problem? Easy, we have to do some work. While I could give a long dissertation on what exactly that means, no one has the patience to read it all, so here are five quick steps that’ll fit in a meme…
1. Read first. Then share. I myself am guilty …
And four more – all of which miss the two most important points, in my view.
- SLOW down. Stop trying to do everything, and end up doing everything poorly. Prioritize, and do the top three things well. Racing along at top speed means you never get to think deeply.
- SEEK out opposites. Conservative? Find an interesting liberal, or libertarian, or some other site. Fox News is your cup of tea? Go find out why it shouldn’t be. The Daily Kos is all you can tolerate? Maybe it’s time to get out into the world a bit more. If all you want to do is read what makes you happy, that confirms your world view – you’re betraying yourself. Seek out truth, not comfort. Otherwise, you may end up with very, very cold comfort someday. Remember, those people you think you should disdain exist for a reason. And sometimes that reason is better than the reason you have for yourself.
