Second-Hand Knowledge

Knowledge is aquired, significantly through communication. The five primary sources are cultural tradition, school, the internet, expert opinion, and the news media. These knowledge sources are achieved through a portal called language, and are second-hand sources. All five of these sources allow us to view the world in a broader perspective, and restrains us from stifling ourselves with only our bias. Although people must be cautious not to fall in to authority worship. We must use our own keen perceptions, and practical judgement to tackle what we choose to accept as true. The things we hear should be backed up with authentic proof.

Cultural tradition is what people are first exposed to when they are infants. Our family, home, and setting influence how we grow up, in our most vulnerable time of our life. When we are babies we are pursuing to create a gateway of communication. Culture is our first foundation, and as we get older we are exposed to it more. It is the key difference between a baby born in Africa, and a baby born in America. Next there is a greater difference between an African baby born in Africa, and a Chinese baby born in America. Then the religion of the family. It is necessary for people to have some culture, and understanding their own roots.

The bad thing about culture is that there are many cultures and each one is built up with biased beliefs and different perspectives. It is easy for people to blindly follow their familie's opinions and habits. People must use their discretion and not allow discrimination from influencing the culture that we live by.

School is also a major source of our knowledge. Everybody is expected to get an education in the majority of the countries. The schools in each area are required to follow a single curricula, making student's education universal. It is good in a way that everybody has the same foundation, and that is fair by giving everyone a chance to be well-informed, and given the opportunity to succeed.

Unfortunately, school is very biased. The textbook is taught by a teacher; both of which are biased. The government also gets involved and has the power to control what is taught in the school; essentially public school. A controversial topic is Darwinism. Evolution is taught as true, but Christianity, and other religions are just taught as ideologies. To avoid getting bad grades, we are forced to comply with something that does not have enough evidence to convice. We are taught supporting evidences of Darwinism, but not taught about the countless evidences that disprove it.

The internet is something that has been influencing our lives very recently. It wasn't decades after 1950 when individuals were introduced to one of the most significant factors of globalization. School may be limited to teaching a specific area, but the internet has the power to teach everybody from around the world. It is a great invention because communication became much simpler, and nearly every answer to our burning questions are at our fingertips.

People with a PhD seem to have more credibility than a person who barely finished high school. People rely on people who had more education because they are tagged to have a broader knowledge of the world. They may have gotten more formal education but these people are biased and make mistakes too. An example was when the Senator Joseph R. McCarthy convinced people that a certain person was a communist spy. He didn't even have authentic evidence, but people believed him and completely ruined the man who was (later found) wrongly accused. We must not quickly believe people with educational degrees or a self-claimed professional because even these people are people. They have selfish desires, wrong intentions, and gain wrong information.

News Media is usually accepted as true. Reporters and news journalists broadcasts things that seem to be controversial or scandalous, to gain viewers. They have the power to hype a certain topic, that may be false or not even important. They could also lessen the importance of something that could hurt their reputation or a person or group the news station supports. A news station may also support a certain political idea, such as liberalism and conseratism. They also limit us because they typically broadcast news in the area. It does have its positive points, such that people are informed on what is going on (even though it may be limited).

Another form of cultural tradion is societal conventions: things we are taught to be true. Because people are social creatures, we are easily influenced by what is constantly taught to us. These societal traditions may not be reasonable, hence it is our duty to utilize our civil rights to change bad traditions. Many people do their best to conform to social-norms and the government. There are many historical evidences of faulty ideologies that people were convinced to believe, such as rascism towards colored people, and women being the subordinates of men. Many people complained about it but still conformed to it, but there were the many advocates, and few innovators that actually took a stand and made the world a more just place.