The Dumbing Down of ... well, of Me!

I'm not talking about dumbing down as in the stupid kind of dumbing down (at least I hope I'm not getting more stupid). I'm talking about the lack of knowledge of current news events and political campaigns.

Since there seems to be very little real news and most of what I see on TV and read on the internet are just pieces of regurgitated sound bytes and somebody's convoluted spin on what they might mean, I've pretty much given up on paying any attention to most of it. I view my lack of keeping up on all of the garbage being floated in the media and cyberspace not as being less informed, but rather as being less misinformed.

Sifting through all of the hype and crap of the coming election is going to be a real chore. Finding the truth about the plans and character of each candidate and finding reliable sources of information is going to be a difficult task. I'm pretty certain that truth is not going to be found on Facebook in the countless memes and rumor spreading posts that populate my news feed. Something tells me that the more difficult the truth is to find, the less I'm going to like it when I finally do figure it out.

I know that I'll be sharing some of my political opinions here at Out of My Hat between now and the election in November, but it is my blog and I am free to do that. You are free to read it -- or not, and if you choose to read it, you are free to agree -- or not. In any case, as my blogger friend Bilbo says, "Don't let anyone do your thinking for you!"

Perhaps that's where the real dumbing down of America is happening -- we have abdicated our right to think for ourselves and allowed the extremes of the two political parties and their media outlets to do our thinking for us. We are all too happy to easily regurgitate what they tell us instead of taking the time to assess the information and evidence and draw our own conclusions. We have believed the lies that we have to be far to the right or far to the left or we are wishy washy and weak. Moderates in either party are left without a real voice in government because we have let the extremes hijack both of our parties.

Think for yourself.
Speak up! --for yourself.

Your political party doesn't need you to speak for them. The parties have their candidates and their media outlets to speak for them. They have a great wealth of political contributions to buy ads and airtime to speak for them. They can hire great minds and creative programs to speak for them and to convince the ignorant masses that they have all the answers.

If the literal meaning of the word dumb is to be unable to speak, then the dumbing down of America summarizes our political process well because we have lost our political voice. I want to find a candidate that agrees with me rather than one that I agree with. I want a representative that speaks for me rather than one that is bought and paid for by someone else.
Good luck with that, eh?

It is pretty difficult to keep up with the campaigns and keep the negative garbage out of your day. I've been keeping most politics at a comfortable distance for the time being. I have a feeling that will end soon.
Sacrebleu!

Be informed -- not misinformed.
Stay positive.
Be well,

John <><