User:Sociohistopolitico

My name is Ethan Tenison, and I am an undergraduate Government and Spanish major at the University of Texas at Austin.

I feel that information we receive from the media about global issues is inadequate for contemporary society to judge and make informed decisions concerning our future. Popular news stations like CNN and FOX news make profit their priority instead of actually aiding civil society. As a consequence of this and because of growing global inequality, our politics is more polarized than you’d think.

In order to combat special interests, a new and open platform for discussing current events must be created that abandons both ideology and petty politics for the greater good. False information and the narrow point of view taken by the popular media will steer public opinion in the wrong direction. In the past this has led to unnecessary bloodshed and even occupation for developing countries around the world. What’s more, political candidates all over the world are able to make a mockery of governing institutions because they are not held accountable to the facts.

Revolutions in information dissemination have allowed peaceful uprisings to flourish from Egypt, to Mexico, to here in the US. With the help of the internet, the people can make their voices heard, which will force their representatives to become more transparent. In this age of lightning fast communication the people should be able to know absolutely everything their senator or congressman does and says, and the people should also be presented with fact checking about each and every political narrative and debate.

After the false pretexts of the Iraqi invasion and the collapse of Wallstreet, the 99% must now realize how imperative it is that we prevent the government from lying and manipulating the reality of the 21st century.