Question and verify everything

We are in the year 2009, and people are still listening to the BS that other people tell them. I cannot understand why people in their 30s, 40s and older are still getting their information wrong. We are in the information age, so why are people still getting their information by word of mouth and not verifying what they have heard.

Why do people rely on that one friend who they know only speaks the half truth or that one friend that claims they know everything about politics but get their information from other people who don’t know jack? But people today still accept it as the truth.

Come on people, all because you hear all this information passed around, questioned it, and then verify. You have the internet, libraries, CNN any and everything you can think of is online or in a book. This reminds me of the old saying “if you don’t want a black person to learn anything, put it in a book”. I am starting to believe that. I have spoken to many people of color, and some of the questions they ask me are things they could look up for themselves. Here is a question that I asked a woman here in Columbia South Carolina, she is in her 40s and lived in South Carolina all her life. The question that I asked her was; who is the Governor of South Carolina? I kid you not, this was her answer; Senator Graham.

It is funny to me, that people can learn all the new cell phones models and ring tones that come out, or perfumes, cars, or their favorite artist, but when it comes to politics, they are clueless or they stay away from it because they say politics is a white man’s thing or it is too confusing. Now, this is a woman who has been here all her life. The sad thing is that she is not the only one who has gotten that answer wrong. But this woman could tell me where the club was, but could not tell me where the State House was. She knew all the gossip around town and everything about Chris Brown and Rihanna situation, but she could not tell me what the First Amendment was. This is a registered voter, so it makes me think, what the hell she was doing while she was in the voting booth.

Are we living in a different world? Or do we have our priorities in the wrong order. Think about this; for those who have kids, when your kids want to go out somewhere, what do you do? You asked them, where are you going? Who are you going with? When someone comes to you and want to borrow some money; you ask them; why you need this money? But when it comes to politics, you never question what you hear. You take what you hear or see on T.V. as gospel since everyone is talking about it.

So when you complaining about these backward laws or your tax bill and cable bill are too high. Think about all that time you spent reading about the latest entertainment gossip or spending your time downloading ring tones. While you are doing that, asked yourself this; do these things make my life or the life of my family or my community better?

If you open your eyes, your ears and your mind, then you will not be led down that blind road if ignorance. If something does not make sense to you, question it. If there is something you don’t know, research it. If you have kids and you are not computer savvy, ask your kids the question and then have them research it for you. This will make you and your kids a little smarter. Treat your Politics as if your life depends on it, because it does..

Make a comment and tell me what your thoughts are…..