The craze for games is the ruin of scholarship

This post is a continuation of an unfinished conversation I had this morning with Joe Pascone.  I want to talk about authority.  I mean, you all know that I have problems with authority or at least you should know.  I am not talking about that kind of authority though.  I am talking about authorities of information.

I think that one of the biggest problems that we have in our world is that certain institutions that have risen to prominence within my lifetime have eroded the concept of authority.  Cable news is a perfect example.  There was a time when there were only three places to receive tv news, and these sources had to appeal to a mass audience that expected some degree of objective reporting.  Today, there are many choices for news and a 24 hour news cycle which contributes to people being able to cherry pick their news (or rather commentary) and only hear information to which they are already predisposed.  This phenomenon occurs on a much larger scale when one considers the internet.

Don't get me wrong, no one loves the internet or cable news more than I do.  Here's the problem though, we are losing an appreciation for authentic information and with it an ability to think critically.  Look at it this way, there are people out there who believe that because Sarah Palin in on Fox News and is saying things that generally make sense to them that her comments are valid.  In the same way that Howard Dean's comments on MSNBC might be taken as facts.  Either way, these people are not being called upon to look at these issues and form theories or opinions.  They are not being called upon to be part of an educated electorate.  In this, in may ways accounts for so many of the problems we, as a nation have found ourselves in.

This needs no further explanation, you all are familiar with the problem I am discussing.  Here's my main concern, though.   Everyone now believes themselves to be an authority, and this is horrifying.  Because you watch a segment on Fox News or a Ted Talk or read a blog that does not make you an authority on anything.  In some cases, in may even make you LESS qualified to discuss the issue(s) at hand. 

I know, I know, you are thinking to yourself, "Self, Joe is coming off as particularly bourgeois in this post."  But, then you are missing my point which is not that all of this information is bad, but that it is meant to be a springboard to higher thinking.  If reading a review of a book online encourages you to suggest that book to your book club and then engage others in meaningful dialogue about said book, then the internet has helped you do something very significant in  improving your life and the lives of others. If you are a supporter of the president's heathcare law and want to understand why people are opposed to it, so you read some blogs that help you develop a balanced opinion, you have made yourself a better citizen.  In these ways and many more, these new ways that we connect with each other can do such immense good.

Here's the reality of the situation though, any and all good come from hard work.  That is the only way that one can better him/herself and the only way that one can establish authority is through hard work and dilligent study.  Reading Ann Coulter's blog or listening to a TED talk on subatomic particles  is not the same as having a degree in political science or physics.  The essential difference is that one took 4-10 years of study and the other took 17 minutes.  

Truth is not arrived at easily.  It is a lifelong pursuit, and it demands that we work hard to even come close.  To implant in our children the idea that knowledge is something found with the click of a mouse is to do them a horrible injustice.

Thoughts?