We make choices every day. Choices about what to buy, whether to recycle something, what to drive, who to vote for, how to produce, and whether to go for more or for less. We make choices about the future, often with considerable consequences — consequences we are oblivious to because we do not take time to understand them, or worse, because someone with a different interest is concealing information we need to understand the consequences.
There are forces (on both sides) that would rather we didn’t make up our own minds, who prefer that we don’t learn what need to learn. And sometimes we’re confused simply as a side effect of a complicated situation made even more complicated by a flurry of charts, graphs, and opinions.
We need to make up our own minds. But that takes a willingness to expend the effort to understand the choice you are making – and the alternatives.
Too many times we default to what our parents, friends, spouse, co-workers, Fox, or MSNBC tell us, rather than doing the work.
But America is about advanced citizenship — if you want to turn over the decision-making to someone else, Russia or China would likely be a better fit for you.
My goal is to raise awareness and understanding – so that you know that you know well enough that you can explain to someone else the consequences they may not see.
Because if you do not want to learn how to think for yourself, there are those who will gladly do it for you.
Ambivalence 