Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Knowledge is Expensive and the Lack of it is Costly

In order to stay well informed in today's world you need four things.  You need a computer, time, money and ability. You need the complete package.  But for many Americans information and truth have become luxuries that they can't afford.  Even time has become a luxury for many.  Perhaps that's why they refer to the informed as "elitist".  Elite refers to the financial status of the informed, because being informed today requires so much time and costs so much.  Knowledge is in many ways a luxury.  Those unable to afford the time and money to search for knowledge may well resent those who can.  Rather than be embarrassed by their lack of information as a result of their financial status, they defensively argue using their religion as the last word in everything.  They may not be able to afford a family computer but they have a family bible. 

Please think for just a second about how little you would know about what is actually going on in our country if you didn't have the luxury of owning your computer and the luxury of being financially able to purchase books.  Without these two factors you would have to rely solely on TV news and newspapers.  Think about how long it has taken news you found on the internet to finally make it to the public media.  Some stories never seem to make it at all.  And, many that do are labeled and dismissed as "liberal media" stories.

Most of us have read the flood of books that have been published this year (e.g., John Dean's, Paul O'Neill's etc.).  Also, most of us keep up on current events by checking out our favorite news clues sites on the internet.  But think about the financially strapped families who are trying to raise a couple of kids.  Many of these folks can't afford to plop down twenty-five to thirty-five dollars a week to read the most current books.  They may not even be able to afford the time to read books or browse the web searching out news.  In today's economy with so many Americans out of work they may not even be able to afford a computer or internet access. 

Sure, anyone can apply for a library card and check out these books, but how many copies of John Dean's book do you think you might find in the libraries of small rural towns?  Some of the best books that you and I have read, we first discovered on the internet. 

There's one more group of Americans we must consider who are unable to acquire the truth.  According to some reports, over twenty-five million Americans are functionally illiterate.  That's a lot of people. 

If you add that number to the number of Americans who cannot afford the aforementioned educational luxuries, which many of us take for granted, you realize why so many believe what they are told and not what they discover for themselves.   Some of these categories will overlap but some will not.  For example, some families may be able to afford books, but not a computer.  But remember, to be informed you need the entire package of computer, time, money and ability.  Perhaps, if we could calculate the number of Americans who can't afford to buy books almost weekly, the number of Americans who cannot afford internet access, plus those who cannot afford to spend time browsing the net, and the over twenty-five million who cannot read, we might be able to understand why about half the country continues to support bush.  They simply can't afford or are not able to access the truth.  Come November, that could be very costly for our country.