Benefits Of Staying Informed

I have not had much interest in politics until recently. Before last year, I did not care for anything related to politics; I thought that it was all boring and had little to no affect on me on a personal level. I am more interested in politics nowadays. I know better now that it does affect me and I should care about it. I had learned about the concepts of political socialization, party identification, political tolerance, political trust, political efficacy in government class and how they affect my political beliefs. My personal political belief has been shaped into what it is today and is still being shaped because of those six concepts.

The last time you watched the news do you remember what story was featured? Or better yet, what was the last commercial you watched, and if you remember, what promises did that product make? These are both seemingly simple questions most of us should be able to answer, but can’t. Why? Well, these things (News, Politics, Advertisements) are all sources we hear from daily if not hourly; consequently, our minds become flooded with so many message that it’s hard to keep track of what’s important when there’s so much bullshit to cipher through.

Growing up, I was surrounded by a constant stream of information and discussion about current events. My father is a lawyer and is actively involved in the political community. The constant talk of government and community activism in my home had a major contribution on how I started to plan my future endeavors. The desire

Watching the news is a rite of passage for any newly crowned adult. It’s a sign to you and everyone you know that you’re a grown up god dammit, you keep up with what’s going on in the world. Because of the news you can name like 75% of the presidential candidates, you’re aware of every tragedy going on overseas, and each day at work you get to ask someone if they heard about the *insert feel good story here* that you saw the previous night. The news is making you such a well-rounded and mature human being.

The problem now a days with our news sources is that the majority of them are partisan toward Democrats or Republicans. This creates problems for the public because they receive information that is skewed and bias. When news sources do this to the public it affects their trust and knowledge of government, both of which are needed for people to want to participate in civic duty. The other problem is that citizens rely on Facebook for their news stories. Facebook post are mostly opinion and there is a lot of fake news on the website. So, it is our job to start educating people on how to find reliable news sources that are factual and unbiased.

As politics and government becomes more complex and involved, more effort is required to keep up with and understand it. As a result, many Americans have lost touch with current events and happenings. Therefore, when election time rolls around, many people lack enough information to develop an educated opinion and support a candidate with their vote, so they just do not vote at all. This lack of information is also related to the belief that one vote will not matter. People believe that their vote will not count, and are therefore following the news less and becoming out of touch with public affairs and politics (Is the System Broken?”). This lack of information is also more strongly apparent among the younger voting population. When interviewed

After reading the article, “The dumbing down of voters,” by Rick Shenkman, I was first shocked by his claim that public has an immense lack of knowledge concerning politics. But the more I thought about the claim the more I realised the truth about the statement. Many people in the United States are oblivious to what the government is doing and who is a part of the government. The lack of knowledge from the public is also unsettling because if the public doesn’t know basic knowledge like what are the three branches of government, then the country could take a turn for the worst. Voters are also giving out their votes to presidential candidates that local newspapers focus on because they either are too lazy or ignorant to think for themselves

Things have changed over the years with our growing country, but none of it would be possible without civic and political participation from all the people in America by following the rules, participating in voting and many more civil responsibilities and duties. Out of all the citizens of America, you are one that understands this thoroughly because you are doing it every day in office.

I feel that the most crucial aspect of being an informed voter involves understanding the major issues and creating an educated opinion on these issues. Group 1 discussed the many issues that are key factors in the upcoming election, such as education standards, environment issues, foreign affairs, immigration, and economic issues. While I have a decent understanding of many of these issues, I found myself forming opinions on issues such as the economy and foreign affairs that I had not previously considered due to a lack of comprehension of the issues themselves. I feel that insufficient knowledge on the issues is what causes many people to feel indifferent about these issues, which is why being educated on political issues is so significant. By understanding more about economic matters such as the repercussions of the economic recession, the debt crisis, and poverty, I feel much more passionately about these issues and am more

Political ignorance is a growing problem in the United States, and it is strongly influencing both government and relationships. Ignorance, defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “lack of knowledge, understanding, or education”. U.S. citizens may or may not be aware of their oblivion, and there are many differing reasons for it. The worst form of ignorance that is currently sweeping the nation is willful ignorance, “a decision in bad faith to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt” (yourdictionary.com). In other words, people are purposefully choosing to be ignorant of what is going on in the political world around them. This way of thinking could be traced back to the popular ideology that “ignorance is bliss”. The phrase was first coined by Thomas Gray in 1742 in his poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, in which he writes “where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”. This common saying states that “lack of knowledge results in

The American public has very little understanding and involvement in the news. It is assumed that the people are stupid, ignorant, disregarded, and that they seek unreliable sources of information about important news events (Shenkman 14). The two causes that suggest this is that the public is either uninterested or is not well-informed.

In the past, I really didn’t watch the news because I wasn’t interested in the politics and all the bad news that was happening around the world. It was when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were trying to get elected that I started getting intrigued with what was happening in this country. Every morning my dad would wake up to sit on the couch and watch the news; I started with just once a week and then gradually to every day sitting there with him to know what was happening. Hillary Clinton, accused of erasing emails, Donald Trump accused of molesting; when did I ever know so much about politics. Hillary wins Oregon, Donald wins Florida, and then

Staying informed about the issues in my community also help me to participate in the democratic process and act appropriately based on what I know.

grasping what's happening in the world of politics is time-consuming. As well as, the amount of energy

Why do Americans have limited amount of political knowledge? It’s because the public lacks interest in politics. They rely on group/party loyalty, rather than reasoning. Their responses change randomly from survey to survey. Recent research shows that the public knows some basic things. For example, they know the location of the capital and the length of president’s term, but they lack knowledge about other basic things. About 50% know there are 2 senators for each state, and only 66% know which party controls the House. They show high instability of their preferences, so explosion of information sources has not helped. The authors Greenburg and Page believe that political “trivia” may not be a good measure of adequate knowledge. They also mentioned that the reason for the instability of preference is because people change their minds and reflect on multidimensional ideology. It’s understandable that American citizens have lost trust in the government as well as interest, but the group of people that show the least amount of interest in politics and voting are the young generation.