US Closed

"We don't collect news to inform us.  We collect news to affirm us."  So says a pollster in a recent article from Time Magazine.  And he's right, sadly.  Whether it's what news outlets we read, what we share on Facebook, or who we rant with about the latest political or neighborhood news, more than likely we're not really looking to learn something new as much as make ourselves feel good about the old we think we know already. 

Put it this way: instead of trying to stretch and grow in different directions, if only to better understand "the other side," let alone to keep an open mind that we might actually not yet know it all, we are actively digging ourselves deeper into our already established positions.  Even worse, we'll even buy lies to further validate that the "truths" we already buy.  From the same Time Magazine article: "Human beings are simply more willing to believe falsehoods that confirm their worldview."  Yikes.

And yet we'd all say we're open-minded.  Whatever.  Check yourself before you say you really are.