Think independently & get things right [Archives:2003/632/Letters to the Editor]

Bob Patrick
[email protected]
Your editorial on what Americans should think was good. I thought as an American I would add some comments. Most Americans, as most people in the world, work. They have gotten in the habit of relying on television and newspapers for their news. The problem, of course, is that if Americans or any people, have limited news and views presented to them they cannot have opinions that are really valid. We tend to think that we live in a freer society than anyone else, but I am afraid that we are only free in certain ways. Most Americans refuse to believe that it is possible for them to be unduly influenced by propaganda, and thus are easily controlled by it.
These techniques are used on peoples all over the world, but I believe more Americans are naive about having propaganda used on them and are currently more easily manipulated by it than people in many other countries who are used to such control. But people all over the world are influenced and manipulated when the news they get is controlled, or when they refuse to look at issues impartially due to influences of religion or politics misapplied in ways intended to control them. The tragic consequences of this are wars, hatred, and failure to recognize and solve the many problems there are in the world today. The reaction of people around the world over the current war in Iraq is to perhaps blame the American people. In the long run, however, we will suffer and have to deal with the consequences as much as the people currently being victimized. Only by independent thinking, talking with open minds to each other, and thinking, rather than arguing and hating, can we personally rise above the manipulation and hatred that is being forced on us. Your editorial is admirable in that it does that.
——
[archive-e:632-v:13-y:2003-d:2003-04-21-p:letters]