Sometimes
watching the news ruins my day. Obviously I want to be aware of what is going
on around the world, but sometimes I wish I could be in the “immature,”
oblivious state, similar to the one Immanuel Kant discusses. There are so many
horrible world events that flash through the news daily that sometimes I think
it would be less painful if I shut my eyes to them. However, how could I live
not knowing what was going on in the world? This would be selfish and immature.
In lecture
we discussed Immanuel Kant’s perception of enlightenment as the escape or
release of humans out of immaturity. In other words, immaturity is one’s
inability to think for themselves and a lack of autonomy. In order to break
free from this, similar to breaking free from the chains in the allegory of the
cave, we need to become enlightened. The way we become enlightened is by participating
in our community and becoming educated. Although it may be easier to not do
things, such as go to school, work, vote, or simply watch the news not doing
these things is inhibiting one from actually living a full life and exercising
their freedoms.
I have
started to think more deeply about the media and how information is portrayed.
If we think about it, the media is an oxymoron. The media’s purpose is to relay
news to the public; however, the news is manipulated and can be presented in a
biased manner. This makes me question whether or not watching the news, reading
the newspaper, and listening to the radio are actually forms of enlightenment. Are
we being educated? Or are we being persuaded? We are in a state of immaturity
if we just accept information right off the bat. Instead it is our
responsibility to do further investigating. We can’t limit ourselves to one
news channel or one newspaper because we are limiting ourselves from
understanding different perspectives.
I as an
educated adult know that I have to explore issues from many angles and need to
re-read articles, ask my parents questions, and flip around the news. As I have
matured, I begin to question how my parents shared information with me when I
was younger. Although the whole point of my post is that in order to be
enlightened one must expose themselves to various media sources and think for
themselves however, one may be in the state of immaturity because of age, as
opposed to ignorance. When we are children, our parents shelter us from
horrific sights and filter information; however, how do we as educated adults
weed out the unnecessary details from the important facts that children need to
understand in order to be on the road towards enlightenment?
Of course, being enlightened also involves being exposed to both truths and lies, because that is how we learn in that aspect. I agree mostly with what you say, and I also wanted to point out that media now is used to appeal to an audience more often than delivering truths because over the years, we learned that (unfortunately to much of society's dismay) we are influenced easily, and this tactic could be brought to markets. And, like you point out, even parents can provide biased thoughts to their kids? Why would they do that? Simple, it is to make their kids seem appealing to their parents, which was part of the original "tactic" in the first place anyway. This is why enlightenment is not an immediate process, but a process that takes much experimenting and learning.
ReplyDeleteYour post was really interesting and I found that at least part one your ideas was similar to something expressed by Rachel Maddow in an interview on the Late Show with David Letterman a few weeks ago. She stated that, to her, one of the most consoling attributes to society was the emergence of a younger generation that is capable and willing to seek out information, cross-check, and do much of the investigating themselves through multiple streams and sources - in contrast to our parents and grandparents who have been much more stagnant, reliant solely on the 6PM evening news, for example. In reference to the rest it, I found myself constantly reiterating the phrase "ignorance is bliss" in my head as I read your post and, of course, it would be quite nice to unlearn the bad things in life (i.e those videos about how they make hot dogs). I would say, however, that life is subject to trial by error; only by making mistakes and exploring things ourselves can we truly convince ourselves and be satisfied with the decisions we make and the risks we choose to take.
ReplyDeleteBrittany, this post was great for me to read. It brought back a ton of memories for me. The first was my very few memories of 9/11. I only remember my mother picking me up from school; I was in the second grade. I didn't realize there was so much news coverage of 9/11 until I was in middle school, because my mother hid it from me so well. There was also a student in my junior year of high school who refused to watch the news any more because, like all of us sometimes, she found it too depressing. She didn't know we had killed Bin Laden until two pm the day after when we talked about it in my A. P. Government class.This kind of life is pitiful in some ways. I agree with earlier comments and with you that in order to live an enlightened life you have to seek out information and not always trust the media at face value. It is a process that takes time and determination, but is worth it in the long run.
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