I have picked on “free market libertarian” information providers more than any others, more than “liberal” information providers and, for that matter, more than “conservative” information providers. Since people tend to lump in “conservative” and “free market libertarian” together one might assume a liberal bias on my part. Let me first concede that I do indeed have biases, we all do. The problem with biases lies not so much in the unavoidable condition that we all have them, but in wearing blinders because of them.
Let me make a somewhat controversial statement that will help emphasize my point. If you have a liberal bias, then you serve the public interest by being most critical of liberal information providers, you serve only your own self-interest if you focus on conservative information providers. The reason is simple, as a person that provides support to the liberal cause you are in a better position to hold that cause accountable than anything that the “other side” will do. This exact same argument obviously applies to conservatives or “free market libertarians.” Conservatives that want to serve the public interest will focus on the misinformation that conservatives generate.
Thus, to the extent that I focus on the misinformation of “free market libertarians” I am either against “free markets” and “liberty” and simply trying to cripple the messengers in my own self-interest, or I do indeed believe in free markets and liberty and am attempting to provide a public service by illuminating how “my own” are misinforming the public. This is something to keep in mind during my “Liberty and Tyranny” deconstruction. Am I really trying to uncover a better understanding of liberty for the public interest, or will I be serving some other self-interest of mine? That is ultimately up to you to decide but I leave you with two thoughts.
Whether or not you think I’m in this for self-interest or the public interest, your choice on identifying and criticizing misinformation is your own. Hold “your side” accountable on misinformation for the public interest; bellyache about the “other side” for your selfish self-interest. Yes, the choice is as stark as that, as inconvenient as that may be to those who hold some urgency towards discrediting the other side. As my misinformation principle #10 will describe, the more urgent you are with an ideological opinion the more likely that you are being misinformed yourself.
The other thought is that we all need to consider how our biases were formed. From my research let me admit to you right now which sources I treated uncritically: virtually everything written by cultural anthropologists about nomadic groups, and The Wisdom of Crowds, written by James Surowiecki. There you have it.
My biases are quite literally my own. My first real thoughts on what is right and wrong were developed during my long-distance backpacking days, based strictly on my own thoughts while hiking alone for thousands of miles, yet in the context of how small nomadic groups behaved. That is how I know the cultural anthropologists I have read are onto something, my own natural experiences. I have read Enlightenment and modern philosophers since then, and listened to different ideologies spouted rather mindlessly (meaning, without a thought to what is natural or the real definition of words), but I pay allegiance to none of them. I am “grassroots” in the formation of my beliefs; I am “grassroots” in my biases.
I recommend due diligence in uncovering all biases, including mine, yours and whatever people or groups you tend to support. Whatever you conclude regarding my biases, be aware that I am certainly no puppet, and you have your own choice to make as to whether to serve the public interest or self-interest.
Tags: Cultural Misinformation, Middle Class Culture, Misinformation
