February 06, 2012 12:52 AM UTC

Eat Your Facts -- They're Good For You!

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• by: harrydoby

The Post reprinted a great article today from the LA Times We are feasting on junk info.

The gist of the article being, just like eating too much junk food, we can become intellectually obese from a steady diet of junk information.

The Post printed a letter of mine in 2007 in a similar vein:

Opinions are like — well, you know – everybody has one.  Journalism, on the other hand, is hard work.  So reading your coverage of the YearlyKos’ blogger convention was both exciting and dismaying.  

Exciting, because engaging the community in covering significant local events with support from professional news organizations opens many doors.  It is the first step towards direct democracy.  

Dismaying, because of the ease with which some would dismiss objectively reporting facts for the chance to express their opinion in the guise of truth.

That the blogosphere is left-leaning probably is a natural response to the years of ridiculously slanted right-wing talk radio.  As sympathetic as I might be to the bloggers’ progressive views, I don’t want to get my news on yellow-tinted pages.

Clay Johnson, the author of today’s article, makes an even stronger point we all should heed:

There is a new kind of ignorance afoot in the world, one that results from overconsumption of information rather than from a lack of access to it.

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… many information providers are more interested in fanning fear and feeding people’s preconceived notions than they are at communicating truth.

But we should really blame ourselves for the content we’re seeing. Why?

Because what shows up on the Internet and cable television is shaped by what we choose to click on and watch, and we’re making terrible choices.

Our news is largely provided by conglomerates focused on the bottom line, and they have figured out that shrill opinions and celebrity hype draw more eyes than facts and substance.

Those that have poor eating habits are often easy to spot waddling down the street.  Just as those without the discipline to consume a healthy diet of information quickly reveal themselves when their mouth is open or when pecking away at the keyboard.

For more information start here