The Information Age

We live in The Information Age, and yet we seem to be so ill-informed.  How can this be?

Soon after the election of 2008, CNN/Opinion Research Corp. polling reported that 23% of respondents said VP Dick Cheney is the "worst ever" vice president of the US. Out of a sample of 1,013 respondents, this comes to 233 people who said that. 

Hmmm.... I have a hypothesis. We've had 46 vice presidents. Let's take a 10% sample of those who said Cheney was the worst ever - 23 people - and ask them to name ten of our nation's vice presidents. I'm betting no more than one or two of them could do that. But they all said Cheney was the worst ever. It's amazing what people will say without actually having any idea what they're talking about.

The Internet is full of "information" posted by folks whose knowledge of the subjects on which they write is woefully inadequate, and it is then read by many others who are insufficiently skeptical.

But skepticism is appropriate irrespective of the source of the information.  Whether it is a blog (including this one), a major news outlet such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, or programming on television or radio, your responsibility as a member of the audience is, first and foremost, to be a skeptic, a critic.  Do not suspend disbelief readily.

And so this very first posting on this blog is intended as a word to the wise, because "The Wisdom of Solomon" may be wise or foolish, and you must be the judge.

I am a physician, a social critic, a political pundit, and a grouchy grammarian (with apologies to Thomas Parrish).  I am especially fond of finding fault with the work of professional journalists, who are too often sloppy, lazy, or both.  That should give you some sense of the range of subjects on which I might write.

I will welcome and encourage comments, criticism, diatribes, invective, vituperation, and even the occasional "attaboy" if you think I got something right.

Most of all I encourage readers (if there ever should happen to be any) to suggest topics on which you might (for some inscrutable reason) like to know my opinion.