Preserved Topic: uninformed decisions (Page 1 of 1)

A recent thread started me thinking about a topic which has been irritating me for years.

In this day and age, you would think that the amount of access to information we have would enable us to make informed decisions about our actions and ourselves, but you'd be very wrong.

During the Cold War, the general public opinion was that "commies" are bad and "democracy" is good. Millions of people believed this, and yet had no conception of what the hell communism was in the first place. As a system of government, there are pros and cons. Simple. The theory is sound but the implementation was frequently abused (think Russia and China). But did people shout, "Down with the abuse of communism as a form of government!"?

Not on your life.

The point is, how many ideas do we hold that we know nothing about? How many times have we been vehemently against something only to find out we were wrong?

Every minute of everyday is the same way. Don't be fooled that it's only isolated occassions.

*sniff...phortay wipes tears from his eyes while holding up an old bic lighter with "I Love JFK" written on it...*

Perception is reality...change your perception and change reality! Some of us have are cattle...some of us have been chattel. Increase your awareness and knowledge...what else is there?

P.S.
Are you trying to say the world isn't flat!?!

*...he then quickly puts the lighter in his pocket...threads like these are dangerous so close to Memorial Day*

"Perception is reality"... now *there's* a debatable topic. =)

Information is boring without imagination. And in a world with income tax that I have yet to experience and those that would die for the sake of the peanut butter the surreal is the only escape. Not in the sense that it makes no sense whatsoever though but in one with enough scientific or practical base that it strikes the relevant neurons and the little light above your head lights up until you read the last few words whereupon it promptly fizzles out into oblivion leaving you with a burnt fish taste in your mouth much like a metaphor for your life had you died before you lived or woke up last night after falling asleep the morning after. We are quick to define our own reality and it is only the few that realize that reality is only what we make of it that can have any fun with it.

When we can?t find something to relate to we might as well just fish for something that seems like it might just make as much sense as anything in this world does, which is virtually nil anyway, so we are left proving that either the surreal does not exist or that reality doesn?t.

not really on topic but there's my couple hundred yen...

netmosisdotcalm n. - from latin netmosisusdotuscalmus - fuck it all.

"Perception is reality"

Not true, but it is in the context in which it is used. I think it would be more apporpriate to say, "Change the way you see life, and you'll change your life."

Context is such a fun thing to play with.

I don't expect much from "general public opinion". I don't trust it, I believe most people are mostly concerned with themselves and their loved ones and basically only think of others on rare occasions. Call me cynical. I usually refer to the public as the "feckless hordes".

I think that one can never be completely informed but one can come very close. As you stated we have access to so much info and that is truly a good thing. I think if any of us wanted to devote enough time to staying current, it can be done.

The commie example is interesting. It all makes sense to me. Most people just believed what they were told by the govt or whoever because they don't want to think too much about those kinds of things. But there have always been people who do search for the truth and do their best to act accordingly.

I consider myself to be reasonably well informed but far from where I should be. If I have any major errors in my understanding of any current event, believe me, I WANT TO KNOW! I will correct it in an instant given proper evidence.

There are 3 colors that illustrate my view of those who try to stay informed compared to the feckless hordes:

feckless hordes love the colors black and white

the others struggle with one... gray

warjournal, context is king.

I see life, society, public thought, etc. kind of like this...and the older I get, the more I believe it's true.

10% of the people know what is going on and play the game well enough to change things in their favor.
They control the world.

5% of the people know what is going on and don't want to play the game.
They sit frustrated most of the time.

85% of the people don't have a clue what's going on...not because they don't have the ability, only because they haven't been exposed to the ideas and don't have the means to access that information. They trust the 10%.
They walk around blind, content with a beer at 5:00 quiting time.

Maybe the numbers are a bit schewed, not exactly right, but they're pretty close...


The MUCH bigger question is...Into which group do you fall? Are you happy about it? If not, how do you change it?

mobrul