kentuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 07:37 PM
Original message
Does America need to be better informed?
And what difference would it make?
Is it not enough that the media is obsessed with the horse race politics of the presidential race?
There is Romney and he is ahead by two lengths. Here comes Bachman on the outside and she is closing. Here comes Obama on the inside and it looks like he is going to win? Is it really much more than that?
The media mistakes information as being informed. It is nothing more than gruel for people that are hungry for meat.
Where is the information that people need to make an informed decision? Would the Democrats fare any better if the media told the truth about matters that are being debated? Does it always have to be "Republicans say" but "Democrats respond"? Can we never hear the facts? Both sides are not always right.
Would the people vote differently if they received more accurate information or would they continue to vote for their Party, no matter what?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1414574In other words if only the media would carry even more water for the democrats.
nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 07:41 PM
Original message
Yes, and an informed public
is the basis of democracy... none less than Jefferson thought such... with all his defects, why the University of Virginia was supposed to be free and open to all who could do it.
Ironic that you don't know that we are not a democracy, and never have been one. We are a Republic, and yes there is a difference.
AndyTiedye Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 07:41 PM
Response to Original message
1. Many of them Simply Vote Whichever Way the Tee Vee Tells them To
Like all the people who voted for 0bama.
handmade34 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 07:52 PM
Response to Original message
4. accurate information would
mean nothing to people that have no critical thinking skills...
True, in fact that is why accurate information is not tolerated at DU.
Zoeisright Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 08:11 PM
Response to Original message
10. To put it mildly.
Many Americans need a swift kick in the head and some reality pointed out to them. Like voting against their best interests because their panties are in a twist over abortion or gay rights is unbelievably stupid.
Zoe you have no idea of what anyone's self interests are except for maybe your own, so STFU.
kentuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 08:24 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. I think the media could clear up some of the lies...
For example, Barack Obama has not run up more debt than all the other Presidents combined. We hear that a lot.
Also, the bank bailout was on George W Bush's watch. The $700 billion was added to the deficit for 2009 which was George W Bush's last budget, not Barack Obama's first budget.
Or maybe inform them of how the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed by the Republican Congress and signed by Bill Clinton that let commercial banks invest the same way as the big investment banks, like Goldman-Sachs.
Or maybe show them the graph that depicts how much more serious this "recession" was and is as compared to any since WWII.
And so forth, etc...
no_hypocrisy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 08:14 PM
Response to Original message
11. Yes and children need to take civics again to understand their individual and collective
responsibilities as citizens. One more thing: better American history classes that incorporates civics into the curriculum and explains the relevance of each event.
Ozymanithrax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 08:20 PM
Response to Original message
12. For a most Americans it would make little difference...
Giving people facts that run counter to their ideological beliefs doesn't work. They will deny the facts and follow with justifies their belief set.
What Americans need is to be better educated.
I agree Americans need to be better educated. We need to return to the days of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, not self esteem, and condoms on bananas.
woo me with science Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon Jul-04-11 08:33 PM
Response to Original message
14. No, not as long as they know how to look things up.
Knowing where to find the information is a valid skill. Then again that takes some kind of ambition and DUmmies have none.
