All Is Not What We See

Not only are we not seeing it all, but even what we do see is distorted beyond recognition. The chapter entitled The New World Order by Noam Chomsky points to the fact that many people can spend their entire lives being completely unaware of the full impact that social, political, and economic oppression can have on other nations. Chomsky takes it on himself to go behind the scenes of American foreign policy and expose its ambitions for what they really are. If there weren't individuals such as Chomsky, truth would be continually kept in the dark. Why? Well, leaders know what the people want and need, and they comprehend the functions of epistemology, knowledge, and thought processes. Knowing that many people are not media literate or have not learned to think critically, the American media is able to forge people's opinions and beliefs. In order to maintan a certain image of the United States, the media rarely outrightly criticizes the U.S. government's decisions, and seems to be particularly careful when addressing subjects pertaining to war. Through the careful selection of imagery, words, and sound, the technological world can generate emotions for or against situations and ideologies that have no basis in reality. Essentially, the government can rely on the media to rally patriotic sentiment and reinforce false beliefs amongst citizens. This is a terrifying thought. We cling to the belief that we are individuals with freedom of thought and speech, but how can that be when our thoughts are being formed by a paradigm that is not of our own creation?

If nothing else, the knowledge that even the leaders of our countries can deceive us should challenge us to be more critical and reflective of what we see on television and hear on the radio. Moreover, we should make it our responsibility to explore a wide variety of resources, including books, so that we can compare, contrast, and draw a conclusion of our own. These are skills that we should also pass on to our students. The classroom should be a place where questions can be asked about topics that don't necessarily crop up in the media. The classroom should be the location where discussion can take place and misguided ideas can be rooted out. If we are not shown the truth, or at least not all of it, it is our duty to search for it ourselves.