It is human nature to try to figure out what the truth is and understand information about things happening around us. In the United States the entire political system relies on the American people getting all the information that is truthful. However, it is easy to spread false information or censor information that might go against personal political views. America is so divided right now and I think the division is not be driven by any individual or party, but rather an abundance of misinformation and one sided information. Most often people get information from a television news source, but often these are one sided. For example, Fox News is one sided to the right and MSNBC is one sided to the left. It is nearly impossible to be completely unbiased, so anyone who claims to be objective usually is not truly objective. I have convinced myself that the only way for someone to get balanced information is to equally balance their time between a channel like MSNBC and Fox News. I would not count the mainstream media in this because the information from mainstream media is not as biased (although still biased) as Fox News as an alternative. I wouldn't include CNN in this because many times, their information is 100% verifiably incorrect.
This past year was my first year to vote and I felt is a big privilege. I have always had a superficial interest in politics, but my interest in politics skyrocketed this year. Not having cable or satellite TV, I didn't watch channels like Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN. However, when I want to college, I watched some of these channels more frequently and in conjunction with the channels I had been before. I realized where I was leaning and realized some of my thinking is one sided. Noticing it has helped me try to focus on looking at both sides of the equation to make up my mind.
The purpose of this blog is not to talk about politics, and for this reason, and many other reasons, I will not disclosing my political beliefs on this site.
This idea of finding information is not only useful in politics. It is important in any situation in reality. Looking at both sides of an argument is something that is extremely difficult to do, but it is essential in coming to a peaceful agreement. I hope to see Americans to come together again, but I don't think this will happen unless the American people are able to look at both sides of the arguments equally.
Thanks,
Seth Pohle