he says, "that it's too trivialized; that it's too commercialized"(2). I couldn't agree with him more. I think the main cause of this is the lack of education for the masses. That lack of education is not necessarily not caring about what is going on, but a kind of ignorance. It's not that people don't try their best to become educated, it's that if it does not effect them directly, they really don't care. For me the issue on health care right now is something that I watch everyday because of my diabetes. Having this disease for over 15 years and not having health coverage for almost 5 of those years really puts a damper on my wallet, especially since I'm a full time student with a part time job that doesn't pay that well. Universal healthcare would really help with the issues that I am having with this. This "fragmentation of interest" really doesn't help with coming up with new laws and regulations because if we as a society don't put enough effort into passing them, then they will never go into effect. The lack of education of this issue may have to do with the information overload that people are receiving from the media, like the news and newspapers. People may become disinterested because they don't want to hear about it anymore, which is something that has gone wrong on the media's part. The inroduction to this book really outlines very well the fact that these issues need to be dealt with more than just listening to what is said on tv or in the newspapers. Society should probably be more active in helping with these issues.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Week One: Lack of Education
The discussion on the public sphere was very interesting this week and I feel that there are a few things that really need to be focused on in it. The question that most interested me was why are we as a society or even individuals possibly uninterested or lazy when it comes to major issues that need to be dealt with. McKee focuses on a couple themes that are possibly the most important in figuring out why people are really not paying attention to what is really going on in this world. For example
he says, "that it's too trivialized; that it's too commercialized"(2). I couldn't agree with him more. I think the main cause of this is the lack of education for the masses. That lack of education is not necessarily not caring about what is going on, but a kind of ignorance. It's not that people don't try their best to become educated, it's that if it does not effect them directly, they really don't care. For me the issue on health care right now is something that I watch everyday because of my diabetes. Having this disease for over 15 years and not having health coverage for almost 5 of those years really puts a damper on my wallet, especially since I'm a full time student with a part time job that doesn't pay that well. Universal healthcare would really help with the issues that I am having with this. This "fragmentation of interest" really doesn't help with coming up with new laws and regulations because if we as a society don't put enough effort into passing them, then they will never go into effect. The lack of education of this issue may have to do with the information overload that people are receiving from the media, like the news and newspapers. People may become disinterested because they don't want to hear about it anymore, which is something that has gone wrong on the media's part. The inroduction to this book really outlines very well the fact that these issues need to be dealt with more than just listening to what is said on tv or in the newspapers. Society should probably be more active in helping with these issues.
he says, "that it's too trivialized; that it's too commercialized"(2). I couldn't agree with him more. I think the main cause of this is the lack of education for the masses. That lack of education is not necessarily not caring about what is going on, but a kind of ignorance. It's not that people don't try their best to become educated, it's that if it does not effect them directly, they really don't care. For me the issue on health care right now is something that I watch everyday because of my diabetes. Having this disease for over 15 years and not having health coverage for almost 5 of those years really puts a damper on my wallet, especially since I'm a full time student with a part time job that doesn't pay that well. Universal healthcare would really help with the issues that I am having with this. This "fragmentation of interest" really doesn't help with coming up with new laws and regulations because if we as a society don't put enough effort into passing them, then they will never go into effect. The lack of education of this issue may have to do with the information overload that people are receiving from the media, like the news and newspapers. People may become disinterested because they don't want to hear about it anymore, which is something that has gone wrong on the media's part. The inroduction to this book really outlines very well the fact that these issues need to be dealt with more than just listening to what is said on tv or in the newspapers. Society should probably be more active in helping with these issues.
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I agree that people need to become more active in the political realm as members of the public sphere. People can tend to be lulled into a coma where they become simply consumers of media rather than active members of society. As I see the uprising of tea party's all over the States i'm encouraged that Americans are starting to realize that they need to take a part in politics if they desire true change to take place.
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