The Information of Errors

The state of how people obtain information and what they do with it has started to disturb me. In the age of the information superhighway, it's possible to have a world of knowledge at your fingertips. It's a great deal of power to have on your side, especially for those of us that can remember when you couldn't check on the arguments for Cosmological theory in a split second on Google and you had to look up articles in a library. Possibly on microfilm or some other horrific precursor that predated our beloved friend and partner in academia, the Internet.

Back in the day, to use a phrase, you could only have access to the opinions of those that were in your immediate zip code or metropolitan area. Knowing what Larry the Blogger in New Mexico thought regarding the breeding habits of the Whiptail Lizard (it's the state reptile, seriously, look it up) could only be enjoyed by those in his part of the country. Now, it's possible for people from Maine to Outer Mongolia to come to understand the wonders of this fascinating reptilian specimen.

Not that I have a problem with Larry who writes about his favorite animal, it's just that for his nine to five job he's a clerk at an AM/PM outside of Santa Fe on Interstate 25 and hasn't spent five minutes in a classroom studying biology or any of the thousand other things you have to know to become a traditional expert on wildlife.

This type of thing begs the question, do you have to be professionally trained to become an expert, professional or casual, in your field of interest? It all comes down to whom you trust. If you can take the opinion or what could be construed as fact from Larry, and that's good enough for you and millions of other blog readers, then that could show the beginnings of a sea change in how people gather and process information.

My Grandfather used to bird watch and would log all sorts of interesting facts and habits of birds indigenous to South Dakota, where I'm from. Now imagine if he also had the ability to wield the power of the internet (which he doesn't, for the record) and present his findings as fact. "The Hooded Merganser only comes to feed on every third day. It must be so that it only needs to feed two times per week," he could write. Is a residential backyard with a bird feeder and a birdbath a scientifically acceptable controlled environment?

Imagine a seventh grader in Seattle doing a report in his or her science class on birds of the Midwest, and using my Grandpa's blog site as a credible source. What sort of grade do you think they would get? This is presupposing any legitimate schoolteacher would allow such nonsense, but play along. Shouldn't the information detailed in this report come from say an encyclopedia where the information is somewhat dry and boring but undeniably accurate? Or should my 74-year-old Grandpa and former regional manager of a Cummins Diesel Truck dealership be the beacon of information? Sure, the text in an encyclopedia is not as colorful as the wit and candor of good old Grandpa, however I'm certain it has more quality information where the child could gather it all in and come up with an opinion of their own, thus achieving a higher grade.

This is the problem we face. Taking the easy road and trusting someone else's word for it is what we are seemingly shifting toward. When you read someone else's opinion, it's unfair to say that you, the reader or listener, cannot dissect what they are saying and form some variation of it on your own. However, it is a passive way of ignoring what some see as the big issue at hand. While reading opinion as your sole source of information can be fun and enjoyable it leaves little time for critical thought. To not have time for facts is to not have time to create your own ideas and opinions.

It's not news to most people that the newspaper industry as we know it is dying a slow and painful death. It hasn't completely fallen by the wayside, however the people that get their information from traditional print journalism aren't getting any younger. Facts and interesting stories with depth are being condensed to give way for larger advertisements for Verison Wireless or Macy's so papers like the Kansas City Star can sustain themselves and be somewhat viable. Should we sacrifice facts so we can write in a more appealing way to my generation? I'm not so sure that facts and details are so expendable. They way we write? Sure. Leaving out the important stuff? Not so much.

I'm not saying don't read blogs, or the opinions of others, because if you just take my word for it you probably missed the point of this entire piece. Go out and be receptive to anything you can get your hands on. No one ever regressed in intelligence because they had too much information. Getting out there and being able to recognize was is fact or fiction equips you to know what is right for you. Letting someone else do that for you could be one of the biggest mistakes you could make.