Why this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to provide a platform to encourage critical thinking in the readers of certain blogs.

I think blogging is important to the internet. I think it's important that we can offer alternative choices to the mainstream media.

Blogs are great because:

1. Anyone can make one, and publish content that can be viewed by the public.

2. You can put whatever you want in your blog. Nobody edits it. Nobody tells you what you can and cannot write.

However, blogs are also problematic at times. Why?:

1. Anyone can make one, and publish content that can be viewed by the public.

2. You can put whatever you want in your blog. Nobody edits it. Nobody tells you what you can and cannot write.

So this means that you can tell the truth even if it is not convenient for others who might be trying to cover it up.

It also means you can lie, use misleading tactics to manipulate readers and simply make stuff up to try and facilitate a certain agenda. (You know, like the main stream media?)

People are inclined to believe what they read and rarely do they look up sources. They often take things that are presented in print at face value. Some of that is because we are raised in a world where everything we used to see was subject to editors and certain journalistic standards. We have been conditioned to believe that we can trust media. Eventually the main stream media started to abuse that. And people are starting to wake up to that fact.

However, even independent media can be subject to the same sort of distortions and misleading tactics. And we should be aware of that when we read.

What is the solution? I don't believe that regulation of blogs is the answer. I do however believe that people should educate themselves on these tactics so they can apply a "reality filter" to what they read. A friend of mine brought some blogs to my attention that target an activist movement called "The Zeitgeist Movement". I will likely start there but it will not be all I cover.