Some important areas are quite difficult to understand. Science, economics, politics are often quite difficult to comprehend and yet are central to decisions that are made by others about our lives.
To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues? To what extent do you think that you should leave the complicated decisions up to others ?
As a citizen, I believe that I have the right to be informed about global issues and the methods and implications of modern development. I am well informed but maybe that’s because I have a particular interest in the issues and topics surrounding the sustainable development discipline, I myself search for the information, if I did not have an interest in the subject I could easily switch off and ignore it as many people in society do.
The primary source that keeps me informed about serious issues is newspapers; I often read stories encompassing sustainable development and similar topics. But I must say that I can be highly sceptical at times. There are so many different opinions floating around in the media and in politics that it is almost impossible for news sources to give you a clear-cut factual view of what is really going on, you need to make the decision yourself about what you believe. The biggest example of this is the ongoing climate change debate, there are many people out there who believe that humans and CO2 are to blame for increasing temperatures and that within a few years, global warming will have cataclysmic circumstances. In complete contrast, there are many cynics including many scientists and other respectable people that believe that global warming is not caused by humans and CO2 at all and some even believe that global warming is a natural event that happens every few hundred years. So I find it very difficult to make decisions on what I believe.
All human beings have the right to be informed about the changes that our Earth is going through on all levels; environmentally, politically and economically. This gives everybody a chance to have their opinions and ideologies if their voice can be heard, but a voice does not have to be heard on an international or even national level, as individuals, we can all do things to make a difference and in some respect it is our responsibility to make a difference, whatever a person’s view on climate change or world development we must consider future generations and what must be done to make life for them as it is for us or better, this can be undertaken in any way that the individual deems reasonable, using their car less or perhaps donating clothes to charity. However, I do believe that the science behind climate change should be left to scientists and major development decisions should be made by economic and political experts. We need to know what is going on with our planet; evidence needs to be provided from historical and scientific sources and major decisions need to be made by reliable governmental bodies.
Interesting comments. The climate change issue is a good example of mis-information. Even informed citizens have been duped into believing that there are many sceptics and there are credible alternative theories explaining climate change.
ReplyDeleteHave we been told this because Murdoch wants to sell his newspapers? Does Clarkson have too much power? Do people really want to hear serious stories?