As I was sitting with a friend earlier this week, we got caught up talking about current events. Politics, celebrities, sports, entertainment and news — all of it feeds into our culture of infotainment.
Being on the up-and-up about everything keeps us involved and engaged with those around us. If you're reading this, it probably means you are fairly informed; it takes a dedicated media junkie just to pick up the student paper, let alone stay interested enough in it by the time you get to the featured essay section. Right off the bat then, since you are reading this, you probably aren't who I want to talk about. The people I want to single out here are the completely uninformed. The people who might casually ask: "Did something happen in Haiti?" with a straight (albeit innocently naïve) face.
I spend a startlingly large amount of time thinking about these sorts of people. For instance, what are they even doing with their time? Surely at some point in the last five weeks or so, they must have heard about something related to Haiti. I used to think it was a defiant act of ignorance, as if they had to define their entire existence by living in a dark cave devoid of all media. But as I spoke to my friend, it became apparent that she too was woefully unaware of some key media events. "There was something about orphans and Baptist groups in Haiti?" Now my friend is by no means an uninformed cave dweller, so I spent the next hour or so considering things. After all, does it really matter if someone knows about a story?
We all know the phrase "ignorance is bliss," and I think it's pretty apparent why someone would want to be ignorant of our culture. Most of our reported news involves tragedy, death, murder or crime. We hear about them constantly, so one has to wonder whether it does us any good. How does our being informed of a tragedy better the situation? Many people might tell you it doesn't. It gives us a sad event to talk about, and another reminder of how much life can hurt.
That being said, I'm not writing this to be a champion of ignorance. It simply is what it is, a fact of what happened. I would much rather live in a world in which I'm aware of what is going on — good or bad — rather than have a false representation of what the world actually is. And that is the function of news, to give us a picture of the world we are in.
Just as I'm promoting news as a sort of existential fact, I want to say the same of someone who doesn't know about a current event. They aren't stupid for not being aware of something; it's simply a reflection of their interests. I personally don't watch sports, and considering the amount of times I've sat quietly (with that same naïve look on my face) listening to other guys talk about batting averages and the latest players traded, I can attest to the feeling of being left out being uniformed gives you. The trick is not to define yourself by your ignorance, but use it as a means of educating yourself.
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