Quote:
Originally Posted by Linus
It’s one of the great assumptions underlying modern democracy that an informed citizenry is preferable to an uninformed one. “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789. This notion, carried down through the years, underlies everything from humble political pamphlets to presidential debates to the very notion of a free press. Mankind may be crooked timber, as Kant put it, uniquely susceptible to ignorance and misinformation, but it’s an article of faith that knowledge is the best remedy. If people are furnished with the facts, they will be clearer thinkers and better citizens. If they are ignorant, facts will enlighten them. If they are mistaken, facts will set them straight.
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We live in an age of information, and because of that many people believe that we are that much more capable of making thought out decisions than our ancestors. I would argue this is not true. The act of simply holding information does not make one knowledgeable or intelligent. Particularly in the humanities there's been great deal of talk over the definition of knowledge and the notion that information does not equate knowledge. People today are being bombarded with information left, right and centre, and it's fairly easy to read about nearly anything and everything. But what isn't being put into practice is the ability to process that information, which is far more important than simply being aware of it. I believe that this can be taught, the problem being that most people are not willing to forget their own perspective. It's scary to them, and works very well in the favour of politicians. Overall, I agree with the article.
I do agree with Gemme that most people perceive their beliefs as fragments of themselves, but I think that perception is wrong.
I'll elaborate more later, gotta run to work.