I am pleased to present to you a guest post by AllegoryAdvisor.
The media tells us that they reflect society. They try to present both sides of every debate and to ensure we all have the information we need to make informed choices in our day to day lives.
The Blog community tells us that the media is wrong. They say we are being shown a carefully constructed version of society. It has been altered by left wing, right wing and centre bias and that we should not believe it.
So we have 2 institutions telling us what the country we live in is really like.
Is this what you really want? Who's right? Who wants a perfect utopian society so why do we spend so much time pointing out the failings and errors of others?
Consider that we all live in a cave, facing a wall. There is only one source of light behind us and all we can see are the shadows cast on to our wall. We believe what we see on the wall is real. We have no reason or way of proving otherwise. Eventually, one of us turns round and views everything directly. They tell us what we believe, isn't really accurate and we should believe what they now see.
Over time we see this new description of our lives as accurate. We look towards it everyday, we wish we could see it too and get frustrated that we can't. We start to think the person with the better view is too powerful and might not be telling us everything.
Then another person tells us they have a new way of looking at the light. Their way is better and more accurate. They tell everyone the last describer has been biased and we begin to really wonder what to believe and what is true.
With thanks to Plato, this I believe is the the problem with Media and Blogs. To really see what your life is like you need to leave the cave.
Don't look at shadows, don't listen to what someone tells you it's like.
Once you have left the cave and look back in you'll be suprised you believed what was happening in there.
Turn away from it and don't look back.
8 comments:
I'm a wee bittie confused with the message here. Is the writer saying bloggers should give up and start bird watching or some such activity?
Many boggers provide links to subjects I know nothing about and since I started blogging my knowledge of the world around me has greatly increased.
I read that as a message of hope.
My interpretation of the piece is that we should make up our own minds. When all is said and done, every blogger, every writer, every broadcaster has his/her own view. It may just pay dividends to delete their views from your own mind and figure things out for yourself.
In the end though, the truth you discover is your own, and as long as you are satisfied with it, who can deny you?
One thing is certain though: there are still way too many people in the cave.
CR.
Nice post, a message of hope and a plea for self education: considering and weighing up all points of view.
Neat, thanks...
Go to the light!
My view - Our future's so bright we gotta wear shades!
Temporarily O/but re your post.
Vote NO at Alcohol Focus Scotland.
" Cheap alcohol is damaging health and society, I support minimum pricing (? )"
17:00pm hrs Friday
93% No - 7% Yes with 8747 votes
Oh no ! down from 95% NO this morning, clearly some late postal votes from the Yes camp coming in or some orchestrated campaigning from the Righteous.
C'mon chaps, n gals, One last heave !
http://www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk
Very illuminating !
thanks for posting
The enlightened may leave the ignorant to their bliss or destroy heaven at great risk to themselves, for greater good.
Seems like a message of hope to me! Lays a large responsibility on bloggers & any of us who do not watch the shadows.
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