Escaping the News Cycle (or, Moksha)
The Democratic primary for the Virginia gubernatorial election is today. I knew it was coming up, but value my time way too much to watch TV news or read the wretched local paper, so I wasn't very well-informed on the candidates. Hoping to rectify my shameful, shameful ignorance, I brought up Wikipedia's page on the election and used it as a springboard for a couple of hours of research.
Dude. It was really helpful.
I mean, you might think hyperdemocratic Wikipedia would be a sort of suspect, corruptible tool during election season, and I'm sure it has been/someday will be, but the page in question is a clear, objective catalog of facts, guiding readers in useful directions for further information. With pretty minimal effort, I was able to get a good feeling for the candidates' past accomplishments and stated opinions and decide whose ideals were most in line with my own. All this without the daily invented controversies and ceaseless bloody nattering of the media!
Obviously you want to approach any information source with a critical eye, Wikipedia most definitely included, but what impresses me here is that Wikipedia is serving as an information source rather than a shrill, damn-near-unbearable enternewsatainment cycle. A open-source, public repository doesn't just change the name and face yapping at us, it replaces the yapping with a library. And that is truly, mightily appreciated.
Dude. It was really helpful.
I mean, you might think hyperdemocratic Wikipedia would be a sort of suspect, corruptible tool during election season, and I'm sure it has been/someday will be, but the page in question is a clear, objective catalog of facts, guiding readers in useful directions for further information. With pretty minimal effort, I was able to get a good feeling for the candidates' past accomplishments and stated opinions and decide whose ideals were most in line with my own. All this without the daily invented controversies and ceaseless bloody nattering of the media!
Obviously you want to approach any information source with a critical eye, Wikipedia most definitely included, but what impresses me here is that Wikipedia is serving as an information source rather than a shrill, damn-near-unbearable enternewsatainment cycle. A open-source, public repository doesn't just change the name and face yapping at us, it replaces the yapping with a library. And that is truly, mightily appreciated.