No Bliss in OUR Pajamas, Mr. Somin

I wrote a letter to Fox News Online regarding Mr. Somin's suggestion that the problem of political ignorance in America is entrenched and the outlook is bleak. Not from where I sit:


With regard to Mr. Somin's article "Political Ignorance Is No Bliss" (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133202,00.html), while I agree that political ignorance is a problem in this country, I disagree that the problem is as bad as Mr. Somin seems to imply. True, there are a number of folks who simply do not give politics and voting the priority it deserves, for any number of reasons. But there are a quickly growing number of other folks that do weigh all the information and pay attention, particularly bloggers on the Internet. These increasingly vocal and educated 'Pajamahadeen' are more and more becoming a political truth squad; an efficient, 24/hr on-line, often brutally factual judge and referee of the political spin and a wide range of other government-related issues. I'm proud to be a bona-fide 'pajama-clad blogger' myself, at http://sanityanyone.blogspot.com; part time of course - there's rarely any money it.

For instance, maybe at the time he wrote in his article that "...58% [of Americans] mistakenly believe that the Bush administration perceives a connection between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11th attacks", that was Mr. Somin's poll-influenced perception of public opinion. But the blogosphere has long been warning of rushing to judgement on that dismissal, whether President Bush agreed or not, citing the looming UN/Oil For Food/Hussein possibilities as are currently coming to light.

There are many folks on-line keeping an eye on all manner of other issues - everything Mr. Somin mentioned in his article and more - the truth really is out there. Interestingly, many blogs also warn of dismissing the possibility of finding Osama, and Saddam's WMD. The Net is also very useful to see the actual progress being made in Iraq, helping to counter the decidedly anti-progress coverage of the major media.

Like Mr. Somin, I'm all for it. Increasing the level of government/political education and awareness in our country is a must to counter media bias like we've seen recently from CBS. Ordinary citizens can now easily take the matter into their own hands on-line, such as, again, in the case of CBS as well as with regard to the Swift Boat Vets' charges against Kerry. Americans shouldn't accept ignorance or being shut out of two of the most important responsibilities of a citizen - government oversight and voting. This incidentally is why in my blog I regularly call on Congress and the President to repeal the McCain/Feingold debacle, you cannot trust politicians or the media to give you all sides of the story. But the natural filtering process that occurs on-line is a wonderfully 'leveling' anti-spin device.

I do disagree with Mr. Somin, however, that "The problem of political ignorance is not going to be solved any time soon." Take a good look on line these days and you may see history in the making - America is waking up with the aid of technology. Come and join us.

Doug
Harpers Ferry, WV
http://sanityanyone.blogspot.com