Mindset

[Today’s blog is quite different from the trend of the last several posts.]

Technology has made a huge difference when it comes to transferring information. Trips that used to take days now require nothing more than a few hours. This seems to provide the foundation for the colloquialism that the world is smaller than it was just a few decades ago. This perception, however, leads to an overconfidence that clouds the vision of people who try to talk about and deal with the world we inhabit.

Simply because information is more available, people tend to exude a righteousness about their stances on various global, national, or local issues. People explain themselves with the attitude that it is their knowledge that changes everything. With the essential information at their fingertips, all they need to do is get their information out there in order to convince everyone of the truth.

This truth, though, really is something else entirely. Rather than truth, it is really a mindset that is being promoted. It’s not necessarily the information that makes the difference in differing opinions. It is the mindset behind the information.

The voluminous amount of information found on the Internet and other sources allows people to believe they have the inside track on what will help the economy, solve what’s going on in the Middle East, etc.

It is an illusion that the world really has gotten smaller. It is easier to traverse, and information is more readily dispersed. That does not eliminate the problems of understanding the root of everything that goes on the world. To comprehend what’s happening with the economy takes more than reading textbooks on the subject, much less than simply reading a couple of articles or editorials on the subject. To grasp what’s going on in the Middle East necessitates a full knowledge of the culture and history of those nations.

Information can give a person great knowledge about a subject, but it takes knowledge combined with experience and wisdom that allows a person to have an understanding of a subject.

It is easy to find information that helps to support a mindset. It is much more difficult to develop a sense that allows a person to attain a level of understanding about an ideology, policy, or philosophy.