Just an observation

This is just one of those things that I've noticed for a while, but really haven't taken the time to sit down and write it out. I don't know if this is going to make sense, but I'll give it a try anyway.

With our modern society, and all the different things that have come with it, such as the internet, there have been many things opened up to us. We are able to communicate with many different people, it is far easier for us to communicate our thoughts, opinions, and feelings than it has ever been before. Information is right at our fingertips, so anything we want to know about or learn is easily accessible.

However, with all this information, opinion, and ease of access comes some issues, and I really wonder if we see all the unintended consequences. With everyone able to give their opinion, one has to be able to discern between what is good and important information and what is truly 'off the wall' opinion that we need to set aside. Of course, how we determine this is subject to some debate. If you can confirm something through multiple groups and those groups are from many different viewpoints, you can generally rely on it, but you still have to be careful. If multiple groups with the same viewpoint are saying it, then you really have to be careful.

But the one thing that has made me pause is how our modern information has allowed the growth, I would almost call it rampant, of what I could best call 'infidelity'. Some recent emails in my 'spam' really brought this to my attention with ads asking if I want to find someone willing to have an affair. I know that the internet has brought out 'adult entertainment' to the point where you really have to be careful of what you type in search engines. I guess it just surprises me that it's gotten to the point that they can come out so brazenly and ask married people to cheat on their spouses. I use the word spouse because I came across a study recently stating 40% of married people (both husbands and wives) cheat. With the recent revelations about Tiger Woods and his infidelity, I'm sure there are some people who wonder if marriage is worth it in today's society. That, and these spam messages, make me wonder more about how far our society has fallen.

Biased media? It’s nothing new

Why do I make that statement? Well, it’s one of the significant points I took away from Edward J. Larson’s book ‘A Magnificent Catastrophe’. This is the same author who wrote about the 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey’ trial, but that’s another topic for another time. Bottom line on the author: if he has a bias, it’s well hidden as he provides background information and walks you through the time period. No matter what your political stripe is, you will definitely gain something from the book as a whole.

Now, for the topic at hand. In Larson’s book, part of the background he provides of the John Adams administration (1797-1801) is in talking about the Alien and Sedition acts. Through his descriptions, you can see how different Americans were worried about what was happening to their fledgling country, and the road it seemed to be going down. He also provides a significant amount of details on the newspapers of the time. What is interesting about these newspapers is that the owners and writers, even the readers, identified themselves with certain political parties. You had Federalist newspapers, and Democratic-Republican newspapers. Since John Adams was a Federalist, the Alien and Sedition Act powers were used on (if I remember correctly) two ‘Republican’ newspapers, which turned into one of the big issues in the 1800 election (of course the ‘election’ wasn’t an election as we know it today but it was the electoral college in its’ original form) helping Thomas Jefferson eventually win (after a long dispute in the Federalist run House of Representatives deciding between two Democrat-Republican candidates – irony at its’ finest). The point I took away was, newspapers in that time were used to promote certain political agendas. If we are seeing anything in media behavior today, I would say it is a return to those long ago days when you chose where you got your information based on which party you supported. Is it any different today, particularly on the internet with the proliferation of blog sites providing information (of course with a certain political bent), and today’s media is going along with it.

Now, do I really care about the bias in the media? Not really. As long as individuals are aware of the bias when they are looking at the different sites, then they can make an informed choice about the information they get. However, too often people presume there is no bias and the information is presented in a neutral manner. I’ve seen too many instances when bias is shown to believe that, so I know better than to think the media has no agenda. I just wish more people (many more) would realize this as well, but maybe I ask too much from the YouTube generation with its’ extremely short attention span and looking at the surface of things rather than digging into the deeper facts. The other thing that irks me about the media situation is when the biased media itself tries to pass itself as unbiased. I don’t really care if they are biased, just be upfront about it and let me make the decision about whether I will continue to come to you for information, is that really too much to ask?