Ok, I am currently writing what is turning into as much a research paper as a comparison of politial theory in two books and I need some input from the general population.

Essentially the two books boil down to differing views on who holds the power in our government. One book written in the late 50's splits much of the power between the public desire and the personal knowledge of the politicians. The second book, written within the last 5 years removes nearly all power from the public and gives it all to a conglomerate controlled by the media, the politial elite and the interest groups.

I realize that there are many other factors that I must delve into to further analyze this issue, but what I need to know from you people is specifically about your knowledge of the world around you when compared to that of you parents, grandparents.

With the advent of radio, television, and now the internet and those being widely adopted, and thus the flow of information is now much more free than in previous generations, are we now as a whole more informed than previous generations?

Also, if you have input on this issue please feel free to express your opinion as to why you chose the answer you did.

Thank ya much

I stopped watching TV news long ago. Mainly becuase they dwell on just a few "sensational" bad news stories while ignoring matters that actually affect us all. A vast amount of real news happens that never makes it to the papers or the evening news. Sadly large media conglermates control all that we hear and see, so i would say yes they have the power.

Don't forget that the internet is a form of media.

more choices, we dont know more about the world from media, its part of it, but not a major one in my mind

Then explain yourself. Where do you feel this knowledge is coming from?

i suppose it is the media at some degree whether its word of mouth, I just dont really fell i watch much tv or read news online but have a fair amount of knowledge of the world. not really sure i guess

yes, i think that we are more knowledgeable than our parents, but have developed a sort of dependancy. If someone doesn't know about something, the first thing they do, is Google it. We can learn about anything we want, at any time we want. At the same time, we also become dependent on these things, and dont memorize certain things, because hard drives can do that for us. Now, intelligence and knowledge come in the for of organization and ability to serach for information, much rather than the presentation and retention of material. Many mining classes hand out a CD of all powerpoint presentations that are given over the semester. No longer must we pay attention, when we can review the information at our leisure.
Also, we have more information available, since everyone has a camcorder, or a digital camera. The internet allows classes to be taught across state lines, and even international borders. Why the hell wouldn't it make us more knowledgeable?

Cory Smith

Yes, one word INTERNET.

We can access the internet at any time, yes, but there are tons of pages out there full of misinformation. This is analogous to watching news and getting skewed information. Either way, we're not getting the entire truth.

but one can find so much information, even with some skewed info, if you really want to research a topic, you just use 7-8 pages, and you will find enough information (usually) to find the slant, and establish your own opinion.

and yes, i think we are better informed than prior generations, however, we also are more inclined to go with hype and ignore the big stories. Smarter? No. More knowledgable? Yes. (at least in the realm of news and intl. events)

I think you're poll is a little incomplete. I think the problem has very little to do with the availability of information, but rather with the motivation of the public. We can go out and find alot of information about nearly any topic (as previously mentioned, the internet has opened up alot of avenues). However, in my experience, very few people avail themselves of those opportunities. Unfortunately, I group myself in with this group of people.

I think the tendency in our modern culture is to get wrapped up in our hectic little day-to-day lives. We want the jist of days news in a short, simple format, without investing much of our precious free time. So, we turn to the major media outlets of TV and (to an admittedly lesser extent) newspaper. And, lets face it, those outlets are often controlled by the "political elite and the interest groups" (going back to the original post)

Is there more information available to the public than in previous generations? Certainly. Are we more informed than previous generations? Probably not.

Disclaimer: Yes, I commited the mortal sin of arguementation by using a large, encompassing assumption. There are many people who, contrary to my arguement, do take the time to research the issues. However, I see them as being in the minority, at the very least. So, just because YOU don't fit the stereotype that I have laid out doesn't disprove it.

I think the views are a little skewed by environment. The people who would tend to go to UMR are more likely to be the type of people who use the internet to find infomation.

However, the average citizen is more like the SMS student who flunks out after 4 semesters. They use the internet to send e-mail and download the latest copy of Snood.

I don't think people really watch the news anymore and the news that they do watch is dilluted down to brief sound clips and entertainment stories. People who want information have access to it like never before. Just fewer people actually want it these days.