Definition of Information
1 a
(1) knowledge gained from investigation, study, or instruction (2) news, intelligence (3) facts, data
Nowadays, we all feast upon representations of information; some of what we consume is actual information. But, the actual information contained therein is increasingly cut with opinion, hyperbole, and even lies. This dilution entices people to indulge their own confirmation biases, as there is something for everyone at the buffet ever since digital media exploded both the number and orientation of sources of news ‘feed’. This confirmation bias, easier than ever to satisfy, has dramatically polarized us, as the Democrat/Progressive and Republican/Conservative factions can each draw strength and righteousness from the same representations of information available to all of us. And actual information becomes both more difficult to discern and, more troubling, ever less influential as to the issues at hand. It is shocking that we have now reached the point in American society where people can, and do, draw entirely different conclusions from the same set of (I want to say ‘facts’, but we know better, don’t we?) representations of information. And people act accordingly—we are what we eat.
I’ve watched tsunami footage on YouTube. Jesus, it’s unbelievable. There is a lot of footage of the moments before a tsunami hits due to the fact that people like to vacation on coastlines, and people like to film each other on vacation. Therefore, lots of people, unaware of an impending tsunami, happened to be filming themselves and their families on various beaches and resorts when a tsunami began. As we know, first the water recedes dramatically due to the impending wave reaching the shallows and rising up, drawing the coastal water back underneath it. It is such an abnormal and marvelous thing that people stand around and wonder at the sudden phenomenon of large stretches of empty coastline, fish flopping, where there was a normal ocean just a moment before. Tragically, many of these people lose precious time trying to comprehend it and unwittingly forfeit the chance to get to high ground due to their confusion. When the tsunami wave comes in, it comes as the most heavy, powerful and unstoppable force on Earth, destroying everything in its path. The greatest achievements of mankind lay in wreckage.
Back to information representation: So, what happened on January 6th, 2021? Are we still standing around and wondering?
It was the water receding.
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