PS the above link is out of date.

A majority of the American electorates are like pig’s being led to slaughter…irregardless of who’s leading them to their demise.

There is little to no objectivity when it comes to politics. That’s not how the American people have been programmed over the past couple or so generations.

Public objectivity is the politician’s greatest enemy.

For the public at large (majority of voting age citizens) to have political objectivity would mean that the masses have the ability to engage in a substantially higher level of critical thinking that what appears to exist today.

I would beg the question: “What percentage of voting age citizens have the exposure to polticial, social, and economical knowledge, which would allow them to be free and objective thinkers?

If there is any hope for the American electorate, in my humble opinion, we need to make a major overhaul in our school systems across the nation, of which most have removed civics classes from their curriculum:

From elementary to high school there only needs to be 6 areas of curriculm taught beginning about the 3rd grade as described below.

Reading, 1 class a day
Writing, 1 class a day
Math, 1 class a day
And 3 classes a day, everyday in Civics, which is broken down into 3 areas (adapted for specific grade levels, of course)

1) Federalist Papers (including the National Gazette of the mid to late 1700′s)
2) How the founders intended government to work…it’s framework in its entirety.
3) Government Corruption, Special Interest, and Lobbyists

Then, lets see how the bastards in Washington get away with their bullshit.

We all know that government ran schools would never allow such a curriculum.

Oh, and one more thing. Our media is so inundated with talk and commentary show formats (radio, tv, internet, magazines), etc. I would bet my last dollar that we have millions of people in this country who can’t distinguish the difference between hard news reporting and opinion.

I think you’ll agree that teaching critical thinking at every level and in all appropriate courses is vital. Children need to be aware of the human tendency to go along with social norms and pressures to conform.

Seriously attending to the issues that really effect our lives requires rigorous thinking. It is far easier do devote your mental energy to following sports, pop music and entertainment. 

When evidence suggests that disaster is around the corner, because the human tendency is to avoid anxiety, it is common to ignore it. 

When disaster does hit one personally there’s always the reassuring belief in the power of prayer.

After I posted my previous comments, I went back and added the following:

Our media is so inundated with talk and commentary show formats (radio, tv, internet, magazines), etc. I would bet my last dollar that we have millions of people in this country who can’t distinguish the difference between hard news reporting and opinion.

I don’t know whether or not journalism is an effective tool anymore, in terms of providing raw information that encourage the readers of the information to form their own opinions and take hard inspection of the facts contained in such information.

With that being said, and I’m not quite sure I understand your points about “disasters”, but it’s hard not to agree with the reactions of most to avoid anxiety. But if it also means that people find comfort in just being part of the flock of conformity because it’s the easier softer way to manage their anxieties…then we have a very serious problem in this nation.

As far as having the reassurance of the power of pray…well, you have me there because I’m a life-long Evolutionist (atheist, if you prefer). I can only assume that prayer best serves those who believe in it, and will use it as a coping tool…rather than a critical thinking tool. I would think of all of the possible prayers…The Serenity Prayer might be more valuable. Therein lies an element of action on the part of the person doing the praying…rather than the he, she, or it being prayed to.

If we did it your way that’s what we would end up with: Know nothings.

By the way, you may want to look up what “beg the question”
really means. The way you (and a great many others) use it is simply not correct. Product of your own curriculum?

Here is the greatest symptom of the written words impending doom.People are too lazy to read and want video gratification, not realizing that sound bites are leading and mostly never tell the whole story.

I think this speaks directly to the vacuum that is so prevalent in the minds of Americans today.Critical thinking takes too much time and hurts their brain. This friend asked why I do the daily crossword puzzle and I replied that it keeps my mind as nimble as it can be.His reply was that Jeopardy is the better tool for mind sharpening and that again I’m wasting precious time scribbling letters and such.

Is he exhibiting info anxiety as Austin has alluded to?

Of course science, history…etc is essential. I would think it’s obvious I was being an over-the-top ass in my comments about the curriculum, but it was to make the point that we have an ignorant society when it comes to politics. And that we have a large population that is lacking in the ability to engage in critical thinking…for a host of reasons.

But, it might take a wee bit of critical thinking to catch my point.

As far as “Beg The Question”…hmmmm, perhaps I failed to frame it just in the right way. Might be that I could have said, “Someone might beg the question”…yadda, yadda, yadda But “Beg the Question” can be used as a Fallacy in Arugment that’s related to Circular Logic…and/or to give emphasis to a specific question designed to draw specific types of answers.

But, it must be hell being perfect, Gazelle, I’ll work on my grammar, spelling, etc. How’s that?

I am so disgusted by the changes in journalism over the 40++ years of my experience, I can’t bring myself to even read much written in the US short of the New Yorker with any sense of belief.

The idea that there is a journalist in the US with a job ALLOWED to actually BE a journalist, I find to be a rarity if not complete fantasy. The days of giving facts and knowing facts as well as researching facts is unknown to any of the rags currently printed. I cannot blame it all on the writer – I do blame their employers…A writer has to eat but sometime a moral compass must kick in, right?

Op-Ed turned “news”…Propaganda posing as “fact” and payola throughout the industry seems to be an accepted practice.

And the stories unwritten – that void is so great a universe could pass through. Where were the stories of torture that was being brought out in 2003 and 2004; the stories of white phosphorus used on the citizens of Fallujah; the stories of the manipulated intel when it happened….there was rumor and even the release of factual documents but the MSM refused to pick it up…”How about them Broncos” or Chiefs, Bears or whatever team hitting the front page when thousands were being killed in a city in the desert as they dropped illegal chemical weapons on the citizens – That should have been news from NYC to Honolulu!

Murdoch pays the way for the PNAC from Kristol to Rove to Cheney to Perle…..and even underwrote the Weekly Standard just for them.

Of course there are groups on the left with their rags but they do not pose as newspapers or actual News publications …They state what they are and try to give information that other sources refuse to print.

US Media, while being accused of a liberal bend, actually perpetuates that fantasy while they are run by conservative sources paid by corporations to keep the word on the side of the power brokers.
Rupert Murdock owns a large share of the industry and revamps the reporting in every new purchase – not immediately but gradually so it is less noticeable.
Haliburton, Martin Marietta and Boeing advertise consistently on CNN as do Exxon, Coal industry and others who have no product for the general consumer…I admit it was more common pre-2008 but still there today. They offer only an agenda for manipulating opinion….
And the spin of the stories seem to reflect it.

Thank you for covering the subject. Paid journalism is dead. You can not go into any newspaper, TV, magazine, or any other business that sells information to the public and write or show what you want. You answer to their Board of Directors, their station/paper managers, their editors, producers, etc. And it was ruled by the Supreme Court that they did not have to tell the truth in their broadcasts and print. (Although I have a feeling this could be fought via the public good argument and revoking of broadcast licenses.) But this doesn’t mean journalism is dead, just the paid by advertising corporate shill “news shouters” are going to go away.

No instead we have a new phenomenon thanks to technology and the internet. We now have citizen journalists with camera phones, PDA’s, nettops, and all sorts of other tech that can get us images and articles from where the news is occurring faster and more accurately than the corporate media. And while they are certainly biased in their views, they don’t pretend to be “fair and balanced” and usually are not pushing a larger agenda or trying to appease their corporate advertisers ala Fox News and CNN.

This leads to less of the “media filter” many politicians have often cried about. Although many of these same politicians now have to be much more careful about what they say and do because anything out of the ordinary is now more likely to get into the open discussion. And it also allows for greater conversation and understanding, a back and forth such as you do with us here on your column.

I note you don’t claim to be a journalist Hal, but in fact you are a citizen journalist. Sure it would be nice to be paid to write, but that isn’t why we do it.

We comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable because corporate lamestream media is no longer capable of performing that task. Hats off to you, blogger, citizen journalist, information hero of the new millennium. We are not unlike the committees of correspondence of the Revolutionary War. When our governments and multinationals have turned their backs on us, what other choice do we have than to voice our our own views from the rooftops?