The Age Of Information

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. Once again the internet has 'wowed' me with how a search engine operates. I am not going to cite a particular organisation or event as I am not trying to promote any particular side of an argument. I am not attempting to put a sugar coated spin on anything. I am not attempting to sway your opinion with emotional arguments about the fact that exporting sheep is a part of my livelihood and without it I could not be a farmer living life on the land that I love. 

Whether you are someone who skim reads posts, whether you are someone who reads a newspaper from cover to cover, whether you are someone who only reads further on the internet if the picture captures your interest - all I ask of you is to research a little further. In this day and age, properly (and improperly) written articles can be completely biased and submitted into the cyber world freely. This is the age of information, it is freely available and anyone can submit it. With that thought in mind, please take a second to realise that websites do not always have to report all the facts - there is no legal obligation for them to look at both sides. There is no governing body that dictates what is allowed to be written, and what is not.

I write this with full understanding of the fact that I myself am biased in a certain direction. However, if my pointing out that sometimes you need to search for all sides of the story in this era of information overload leads someone to discover that perhaps what has been portrayed as the truth is not the whole truth, then I have achieved my goal. 

So, if nothing else, please remember that no person’s truth is the same. It is not necessarily fact that you are reading on the internet, it is more likely to be a truth derived from certain beliefs. Just as religion is interpreted in a multitude of ways, so too are individual events. We need to remember to look at all the truths surrounding an event - not one alone. Try searching different organisations to do with your event; those that support your views, those that oppose your views, and those that provide governing rules surrounding the event. Each of these will provide information based upon their beliefs, and only when we are furnished with all the facts can we then decide upon our own truth.