Way back in February when this project began I talked about what I thought was a definition of a well-informed 21st century US citizen. I talked a lot about technology, I mean as recent as two or three decades ago internet innovations as we know it, personal computers, hand-held apple products like ipods, ipads, other products like androids and black berries really didn't exist. Today we enjoy the benefits of all those products, so the world is at our fingertips.....literally. Newsprint and other paper products are going down in popularity, as a century ago they were at a much higher rate, and now with all the newstainment and other slightly biased, comical programs can give a skewed vision on our government and the issues, and what is truly going on. Essentially, now after a semester of government class I would actually say quite the opposite. I believe that people that rely on the abundance of products we enjoy today completely are not informed at all. With all the websites, the talk shows, the advertisements, how do we know what is real anymore? The well-informed 21st century citizen needs to go out and figure things out for themselves rather than relying on what people are saying. Things like getting out into the community, attending rallies, visiting the political parties headquarters or whatever, researching on their own different political parties, PACs, or common issues information, see whether or not these people are reliable. If you hear about an issue on the news and see who is reporting, could that have something to do with it? If you are watching.....i don't know.....let's say you're watching Family Guy, and it breaks to commercials and an advertisement for the government race comes on, a well-informed citizen knows better than to believe everything that's said because it's coming from a biased, opposing party. That's when why get out there and listen to the speeches, research what exactly is going on, what each candidate stands for, not abusing the powers we have.
It's been an immense pleasure to have taken this course, it has completely changed how I view our government, it has changed on how I approach an opinion. This class was just what I needed to get me ready for tackling the urban setting of Philadelphia in a large university. In one semester I am now able to start making educated decisions about what I believe rather than relying on how I was raised, what everybody else is doing etc, and begin viewing politics in a different, more personal way. Thank you!!
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