Unfortunately, we live in a country where those who control a great deal of access to all important information would prefer that the average American citizen be completely misinformed about history, politics, and current issues here in the states and all over the world as well. For the citizens who do not know much about their country, I honestly do not think it is their fault. We have numerous institutions and every major mainstream media outlet out there basically telling you what to think about and how to think about it. Who would not want to stay away from that?
We are living in a world that is becoming increasingly connected globally. Globalization is nothing new, but the world as a whole is becoming a smaller place. Not only is it becoming a smaller place, but also people are taking less and less time to research the subject and form their own opinion about it. We have social networking like Facebook and Twitter that release incomplete information and people quickly form an incorrect opinion about. For example, we have the issue concerning President Obama supposedly being born outside the U.S. Many heard just this phrase and went crazy wanting to take our President out of office. It was a small rumor that started and nobody took the time to read reliable article and interviews saying they have Obama’s birth certificate on file.
Citizens should definitely be concerned about what is going on, because whether they recognize it or not, they have the power to bring about change. We can effect what is happening is our communities. It is hard to listen to the new and read information about politics, regardless of the country, without it being biased nowadays. When it is biased, it is hard to determine truth from fiction. This is where the citizen’s duty to actually take time to read into reliable sources and listen to reliable people comes in handy. I think it is vital now to be informed, because a majority of people do not see how relations with other countries can ultimately affect each individual. Again, I cannot really blame those who don’t want to be informed because it is hard to believe the information that is provided to us by the media and the government.
The most recent example of this problem is the death of Osama bin Ladin. The entire nation of the U.S. was in shock when we heard the news. However the happiness did not last long when half of American citizens believed that this information was false and that we did not actually kill him. I respect the people who stood out to speak their opinion because they had wondered how come all of a sudden he has been caught and killed. On the flipside, the fact that most registered voters who were under the age of 30 did not even vote in the last mid term elections. I just think this goes to show even more how our young and growing population wants and knows little about the United States and what is going on in the world.
Politics in general is a dog- eat- dog process, I believe. It could cause emotions very high and also very divisive and does more damage many times than it solves any problems. I feel as though if everyone took the time to understand what is going on, we would form much more educated and right decisions regarding what to do to keep our country performing at its best.
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