Thomas Sowell made a point recently that as the government has grown, the people of our nation have become smaller. The younger generation, when faced with an issue that needs correction, immediately says “the government needs to do x, y & z” to amend the situation.
It makes sense that they think this way. For many of these individuals growing up without fathers, the government – via public schools – was their second parent. But, unlike good fathers, this one helped create co-dependents instead of contributing members of society.
The government is systematically converting citizens into disabled children, seemingly declaring, “The American citizen does not have the wherewithal to manage his own affairs.” Our Founding Fathers would be completely aghast at this. Yet the average NPR-supporting 20-something would likely agree that government is needed to help handle day-to-day goings-on.
This father never pointed out the correlation between a dependent people and the silent hemorrhaging of liberty. My generation is quick to demand protection of their rights. However, freedom to irreparably damage yourself while fiercely denouncing the idea that your actions have an effect on anyone else is hardly what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they penned “liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The preservation of liberty requires wisdom and foresight – not the defining traits of those my age.
The more time I spend with my peers the more pronounced this sentiment becomes: young people can make it all the way through college without ever questioning whether freedom is greater than security or if socialism is better than liberty. I find many young people I talk to cannot adequately define the concepts; much less logically support their opinions.
It is imperative that this trend is changed. Thanks to technology, this task, though overwhelming, is doable. Young people today are, thanks to the internet, skilled researchers. We can instantly find information from our iPhones and laptops – regardless of our location. All that needs to be provided are the tools. Reference points. Historical context.
Yes, it seems daunting to try and carve out a home for truth in the vast wasteland of wrong information and sensationalism. But if the resources are available, this generation can find them. And when they do, weaning them off government dependence will be a breeze.
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2 comments:
You wrote, "Young people today are, thanks to the internet, skilled researchers. We can instantly find information from our iPhones and laptops – regardless of our location. All that needs to be provided are the tools. Reference points. Historical context."
I think such easy access to information makes young people today more susceptible to misinformation than any previous generation. You're right about lack of context. Young people today have no sense of history, thanks to the politically correct public (mis)education system. But information so easily retrieved is almost never questioned. And who checks sources anymore? And those who do merely point to other web sites that repeat what other web sites have stated. The Internet is a giant echo chamber of misinformation.
Information is meaningless without context. Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Just because young people can access information quickly doesn't make them any smarter. It certainly hasn't made them any wiser.
I should just blog your comment - I was so elated when I read it. I have an almost verbatim conversation with friends about this at least once a week. Knowledge does not equal better choices and is not equal to wisdom and understanding. Hence the hedonistic mess my generation currently finds themselves in.
I was speaking more to the fact that I'm completely self-taught in conservativism, there needs to be a streamlining of truth in the midst of the misinformation. I don't really see that there are any other options.
Fox News certainly isn't telling people the basics of Conservative thinking. When I was a liberal I was so far removed from that way of thinking (aka reality) that I had no idea what Conservatives were talking about most of the time. That's not an exaggeration, either.
Thanks for your comment. Loved it.
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