Perspective

Many have made fun of Kim Jong Il in the last few days.  Many others feel profound sorrow at his passing.  Why is there such a difference?  Racism is always a possibility.  Political differences also play a role.  I fear, however, that the big difference is because of the information we do or do not receive.    North Koreans hear or read only what the government allows.  Most of that was propaganda praising Kim Jong Il.
We have freedom of the press guaranteed by our constitution, but so does North Korea.  Are we better informed than they?  I think so.  We get more than one side of things.  I fear though that the cowardly nature of much of our main stream media dooms us to merely hear propaganda from the several sides.  See, Gross Failure of the Media by Cenk Uygur
Our commercial media don’t want to offend advertisers.   They, therefore,  merely parrot what each side is saying.  This practice can cause our decision making to be based on platitudes, and sound bites made by partisan talking heads.  As a result, we often vote against the best interests of ourselves and our country.