Thinking back on it, I was a young man with a very fixed set of poorly thought out ideas. Not many of them would be popular with my current Administration. Hell, my younger self may even have found his arrogant ass on my assassination short list. While it’s a relief in itself to have softened many of my positions (and hardened a few others), it got me thinking about the cause. The boiled down, no bullshit explanation: information. As I got older, not only did I become exposed to a whole range of people with new ideas (hippies, feminists, Jehovah's Witnesses… you name it), but the internet arrived – and with it, unlimited information.
I was lucky enough to be born into the information age - the ‘internets’ went mainstream just as I got to uni, and by the time I left, it was hard to believe I ever lived without it. Nearly a decade later, we are flooded with data – any crackpot with a PC can start his own fake Administration – and it’s becoming harder and harder to separate the good stuff from the crap. With my own evolution in mind, I recommend adding the following bookmarks to your browser, and hopefully some new ideas to your schema:
1. The Daily Beast; I’ll freely admit to getting most of my news from Jon Stewart, maybe with an occasional sprinkling of New York Times (any left-er, and I’d be one of those crazy Obama Socialists… I know). I do try and get some balance by regularly getting some Daily Beast in my life. They generally trend a little left too – but entertain the idea of balance (they let nut-bags like Tucker Carlson write stuff). Madeline Albright is a contributor - but so is Sarah Palin, on occasion. For the record, Christopher Buckley is my personal favourite.
2. Al Jazeera (English); Now this is my true balancing force – and when I finally come to power, I’m going to beam it into all your homes in place of the 6-7pm crap that passes for news on Channel 7 and 9. They gained notoriety for broadcasting Osama’s video messages and are generally accused of perpetuating terrorist propaganda. In reality, they remain one of the most independent media sources in the Middle East. They have an Arab-centric view – which couldn’t be more different to most of ours – I defy you to read it and not learn something.
3. 3 Quarks Daily; I like this page most of all, mostly because the vast majority of it goes straight over my head. Its basic idea is to distil away the crap and post links to interesting pages in “the areas of science, design, literature, current affairs, art, and anything else [they] deem inherently fascinating”. I like to stop by and read an article I would not have otherwise searched for and which otherwise would not make the mainstream press. They’re not all winners – but stumbling on the occasional gem makes it all worthwhile.
That said, there is no longer any reason to perpetuate the set of ideas that you were raised with. The world has become a very small place. Challenge your perceptions, preferably with a first hand source, and see if they still stack up. Think Israel is blameless in their conflict with Palestine? Watch a 90 second clip of Palestinians smuggling cooking oil and medical supplies across the blockade – and see if your position doesn’t soften. I’m not saying my leftist meanderings are the only way (or necessarily correct), I’m just saying you no longer have an excuse not to know better.
