Can Ignorance Really be Bliss?

   As a society are we too well informed about everything?  Every crime, illness, "scandal" is reported ad nauseam.  The details of every person's life is broadcast to all the world to contemplate.  Panic, fear, discord, misinformation seem to proliferate at an alarming rate.
 
   We live a world where everything that is happening, in every corner of the world is reported on multiple platforms. We no longer get our news once a day, at 6pm via the nightly news, or the morning newspaper.  There are 24 hour news channels, blogs, message boards, video channels, literally millions of sources.

   There is no longer "local news."  Everything is a national, and often an international story.  Because ratings, page views and sales are first and foremost, often the facts are overlooked.  Who can get the first quotes, or the first video to the masses?  Since anyone can broadcast the "news" the profession of "journalist" doesn't really exist, except among a very few.  Even well established news sources  like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Time, or broadcast new channels are so quick to be first, they lose sight of the truth, as well as the ramifications of unfettered coverage.
I was moved to write about this after seeing a recent news story about Dr. Kent Brantly, who had contracted Ebola last year while while treating patients in Liberia, and received treatment in the US.      Recall last year, the panic that was quite literally spreading throughout the world.  Despite the fact that the chance of contracting Ebola in the US was smaller than your chance of being struck by lightning, there were calls to close the boarders, to stop air travel from Africa.  Disinformation became the norm, setting off panics, racism and anger.
 
It happens nearly every day.  A shooting, violent attack, verbal misstep, or illness lead to a barrage of information, some true, most not.  People at both ends of the spectrum frame the information they disseminate  cloaked in their own agendas. "News" organizations are so fixated on getting something new to report,  they disregard the basic tenets of journalism.  Sources aren't vetted, innuendo and rumors are reported as fact.  Often times careers, marriages and lives are left in ruin.
It has wreaked havoc in our political process, in so much as people truly they think they are informed, yet nothing they believe is really true.

I am not advocating living in blissful ignorance of the world around me, I am however encouraging people to view the "news" they see with a critical eye, be aware of political and personal agendas, and pause before you hit "send."