So President Obama said some interesting things the other day, coming out against instant media. The target of his speech were devices such as the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3, Iphones, and Ipads. He seemed to be going against what is essentially the evolution of news and media from sources like newspapers and television to the internet. This whole issue baffled me since a large portion of Obama's campaign was Internet based. Here is the man who stated that he would use sites like YouTube to give the people more access to the daily workings of the White House, create transparency, and give us all some hand in molding our own government.
This only baffled me for a moment until I started to read into the article a bit more. From the quotes, the President seems to be chiding not the devices or the internet itself, but how easy misinformation can be spread. But I have to say, it still seems like smacking the man who gave you your golden ticket. With statement's like "With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation" it becomes clear that he's not necessarily against the devices, but how the information is taken in.
I can't help but disagree with the man, who boldly claims he has no idea how these devices actually work. Yes there is a danger in misinformation, for a small trivial issue to snowball into a huge mess of misinformed sheep bleating out on something they don't understand, but this massive access to information from anywhere provides something that is so much greater than the risk. The massive amount of information to be accessed at any given time gives all of us the ability to fact check for ourselves, I can read about an issue, and actually go on to study it. I couldn't do that twenty years ago without a 15 minute drive and a library card.
It's all about having common sense, or as I like to call it, a BS Filter. The ability to be grossly misinformed by a nonofficial news source forces people to question what they're told, to see for themselves what is true, and what isn't, as opposed to having to take the talking head's word for it. This massive availability of information allows us all to be involved, to know whats happening in more than just our own backyard. We can at any time find out what the weather is, who was in that movie we're thinking of, what the traffic report is, and what our government is doing that may effect us.
These tools of instant information are not polluting out minds, these devices are not for entertainment, they're tools for us to learn. Obama went on to say how important being informed was, that knowledge is too important to be trivialized as entertainment. I have one thing to say to Obama right now... Learn. Learn how these tools are used. Pick up an iPad and go searching for an American History text book, take out an iPhone and go to WhiteHouse.gov, grab an Xbox controller and play a game of Call of Duty so you can know that it is for entertainment, and doesn't sensationalize knowledge. Realize, please, that these devices you're talking about are doing the exact thing you're asking us to do, keeping us informed and giving us the knowledge we need.
Just remember to keep that BS Filter on.
2 comments:
While I personally agree with you, the problem is that most people don't have an active BS Filter. And of the ones that think they do, for most of them that Filter is just "I'm never going to listen to [insert name here] because they always lie. I will only listen to [insert other name here] because they always tell the truth." Granted, I live in a middle-of-no-where hick-town so my sample isn't the greatest, but that's what I've gotten from it. -- Jonathan
I can agree with this article. Most of the people I am around though, just....don't care anymore. They can be serious about a tragedy one minute and joke about another the next. It seems that on top of not having good BS filters, a large portion of the country has been desensitized other time to just accept what they hear and move on. Yet still they flock to ANY entertainment like fruit flies to an apple orcherd.
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