Get connected

A few months back Andrew Sullivan wrote:

“What was once an occasional musical diversion became a compulsive obsession. Now I have my iTunes in my iMac for my iPod in my iWorld. It’s Narcissus heaven: we’ve finally put the “iâ€? into Me.”

In the article he makes a few valid points, and whilst this is hardly stellar journalism it does offer a few little hooks that got me thinking. As he points out with the choices we have available to us we can tailor our daily life, and the flow of information in it, to meet our needs. No longer do I need to tune to a 12 o’clock news bulletin, or wait until I get home to hear that new CD. I can check my emails on my phone, and most of the links on my blog are from people with a similar liberal outlook like myself. I skim read the news sites using my RSS reader, focussing more on topics that interest me, and generally know when to steer clear of something that I don’t agree with (the latter may just be common sense, rather than an effort to control the inputs to my brain).

I filter out what I don’t want and create my own little utopia. I’m sure you do something similar, even if the degree of filtering changes.

So maybe we should be challenging that. Not just being more aware of surroundings, or even walking around in public sans headphones (gasp), but actually pursuing other viewpoints with an aim of at least understanding them a bit better? So whilst I think that guns should be under tighter control, how much do I actually know about the situation? I disagree with the way George Galloway conducts himself in most cases, but his recent “show” has reminded me that he is a smart guy, have I been selling him short? Is the Catholic religion as controlling and antiquated as I believe it to be? Is abortion a bad thing?

If there is one thing the internet is most definitely MADE for it’s providing a platform for differing points of view. So, where should I start? After all, there is nothing worse than a closed mind.