Ignorance is Ignorance, Not Bliss!!

Why do you believe what you believe? If you are a conservative, why is that? If you are a liberal, give me a reason. If you voted for McCain, what reasons do you have? If you voted for Obama, what was your motivation? If you go to church, what is it that makes you believe what is being taught there? Don’t go away; allow me to explain why I’m asking these questions.

Many people in this nation only believe the things that they have been taught to believe, whether it relates to politics, religion, among many other subjects. For most people, their parents are the ones that have taught them to have these beliefs. I have had many friends who I disagree with on many different subjects. I’m perfectly fine with disagreeing with someone if their defense for those beliefs is something more convincing than “my mom and dad told me so”. Don’t get me wrong, because I understand someone wanting to trust their parents. If you can’t trust your parents, who can you trust? The point is though, that no parent has ever been right about everything, and our youth need to be encouraged to find out things for themselves.

Personally, I have a lot of disagreements with a lot of people in my life when it relates to religion, politics and other issues, and that’s okay. I was raised to believe certain things that, after I looked at them for myself, I found that I strongly disagree with. It doesn’t mean I respect these people any less than I ever have, it simply means that I have a differing opinion on certain issues than they do, and there is nothing wrong with that. My best friend and I have a lot of opposing views, but he’s still my best friend.

In my profile on this blog, I mentioned that I am annoyed by blatant and outspoken ignorance as it insults this nation and its founders. What that means is that I’m annoyed when people talk about things that they really know nothing about. I’ll use George Bush as an example, because he is the most disrespected president in recent history. Many people think that gas prices were so high because Bush at one time partially owned an oil company. So a partial owner of one company can set the price of a product that is sold by hundreds of other companies? Man I need to go buy stock in Wal-Mart so I can set the price of a Playstation 3 to $5.00! The president doesn’t control gas prices! Supply, demand, and OPEC do! These people have absolutely no evidence of their claims; they are conspiracy theorists, just like those who say that Bush was behind 9/11. Yes those people are still out there that believe that George Bush was the one who organized the attacks on September 11, 2001. All that they have are theories though, and will never have any true evidence, because they’re built on ignorance!

My point is that you are going to have strong opinions, no matter which side of the aisle you are on, have a reason for those beliefs. Find out if your beliefs could be proven wrong by real facts. Watch the news, listen to talk radio, read the news on the internet. If you have strong religious beliefs, read the Bible to see if your beliefs be proven right or wrong according to the Word of God! The upcoming generation is the most uninformed generation in our nation’s history. The sad, but ironic part of that is that we have more opportunities to keep up with current events and we simply don’t. The younger generation, the future of this country would rather pay attention to Paris Hilton and her blonde moments than the real news.

It happens on both sides of the fence, Republican and Democrat, but much more on the liberal side. There have been interviews, one in particular, of Obama supporters, as well as McCain supporters, where questions regarding our congress and politics in general were asked. There were 13 questions on this poll, one of which asked which party held the control of the congress. Only 18% of the Obama supporters answered 10 out of the 13 questions correctly. One of those supporters said “Well probably the Republicans because the president’s a Republican. That’s my honest answer”. That’s honestly a stupid answer! I’ll be the first to admit that the media is unfairly biased and is a huge part of the reason Obama won the election. They didn’t cover it fairly. Proof of that was found in this interview, because all of those people who didn’t know who had control of the congress knew everything there was to know about Sarah Palin! However, it’s not all that difficult to look up the facts to see who is in control of the congress. All that you have to do is go and do a google search! It’s not that difficult, so as biased as the media is, there is no excuse for not knowing simple facts. Granted that only 35% of McCain supporters got at least 10 out of the 13 questions correct, that’s still almost double the percentage of Obama supporters. Both sides need to educate themselves more!

My point is not that you should be a Republican, Democrat, Christian, Scientologist or any other type of person. Obviously, I am a conservative and am a Christian, and as a Christian, I would happily welcome you to consider becoming one as well. But if you are a Democrat, an Atheist, what reasons do you have? I ask that question, just as I ask conservatives what specific reasons they had for voting for McCain, or why Christians go to church on Sunday instead of Thursday or Friday, just to see how much they know about their own beliefs. Voting for a Republican because of their party without knowing anything about them is just as bad as voting for Obama for “change”. My personal recommendation is to listen to Mike McConnell on 700 WLW. He’s a conservative, but tells it like it is. In other word’s, he usually sides with the Republican Party, but will point out when they’re wrong, and he’s a very good and entertaining broadcaster. Wouldn’t you rather get your news from a credible source instead of Jon Stewart or David Letterman? I would!