November 10, 2002
Three Types
Dear David,
Thanks for sharing those letters from your readers on November 8. I feel exactly as they do and on all the levels they discuss so well.
In my experience I've found there are three general kinds of people who are "informed", each type in their own peculiar way:
1. The kind that actively seek information and read as much as they can about whatever issue they are interested in. The kind that despair at the modern TV media and who in an attempt at self-preservation turn to sources like the internet hoping to find someone who is of somewhat the same opinion they are. For this kind of person to use the TV media as their sole source of information is like living in some alternate universe hell where people are blind to the obviously embarrassing verbal stumbling of Bushspeak, where corporate scandal that leaves millions penniless and jobless is no big deal, where war is waged to promote peace, where we have to give up our civil rights to be free, where making war deserves a peace prize. Pure desperation and stomach twisting rage drives this kind of person to go to any lengths to get just the simple Truth without spin, without punditry, without innuendo or ridicule. This person votes because they care about their fellow human beings and they care that the government does what was created for.
2. The kind that are "pseudo informed". I'm afraid this kind abounds and is the majority of Americans. This person parrots the ever poisonous "sound bite", the mantras of the TV media and the ultra conservative radio talk show hosts, who repeat and repeat phrases which are not based on any fact or truth. The screaming "Gore says he invented the internet!" that drowned out all intelligent and factual refutation.
This pseudo informed person is totally convinced that the pundits are correct and because they're mental sloths and because they secretly don't care enough to search for the truth, they pounce on the opportunity to sound intelligent and knowledgeable by adopting the sound bite. But if an informed person with a few facts comes along and questions them, they back down very quickly and avoid any further conversation or bluster their way through with arrogance and aggression. But if by slim chance the informed person can get enough time to reason with them and to insert a few FACTS into the conversation, this parrot person will agree and pretend to change their mind. But as sure as the Sun rises the next day, the sound bite is again firmly entrenched in place. The unfortunate thing is that these pseudo-informed people are the ones who vote because the right sound bites (whether they have even a shred of truth or not) will get them to the polls. Tell them that a three day wait to buy a gun is just the beginning of a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy To Take Away Their God Given Right To Own A Gun and they'll righteously storm to the polls. This kind of person is too strongly opinionated to bother with facts.
3. And then there's the totally "uninformed" person. Jurists and defense lawyers pray for this kind of person. Someone who is so insulated from anything remotely resembling news or movies or newspapers or magazines or sports that they don't have a clue as to who OJ Simpson is. This kind of person belongs to the party that his or her ancestors belonged to and vote the party line like the good people they are. Good person! Like saying "good dog!" And they do vote, though they don't have a clue what for. Their civic duty can be very strong, but their curiosity and thirst for truth and knowledge is a zero.
-Judith Foster