irain said:
Hi, I'm 14, almost 15. I've been finding myself wanting to get into the know how of politics lately. I would love to be able to discuss politics with adults. The only problem is that I don't know how to being learning about whats going on in today's day and age.
Should I start watching CNN? Reading articles online? What?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
First, and by far most important, have a good long hard think about what your values are and what kind of world you think we should be living in. This may seem daunting and will take you a while – encompassing elements of ethics, morals, human nature and all sorts of other lines of thought. However, it is essential if you are to have any semblance of an ‘independent’ critique on political and social issues that reflects your true feelings and beliefs as opposed to merely regurgitating adopted opinions.
The good news is that, as well as being essential, you’ll also find it engrossing, fascinating, thought provoking and liberating. You have already overcome the biggest hurdle that most people never get to – actually having an interest in the issues that make a difference to people’s lives. For something almost everyone has an opinion on, not many people are actually that interested in politics – and certainly not that many 14 year olds.
As a good grounding you might want to start by reading some introductory books on political and social philosophy to get a feel for what you agree with and what you don’t. Before this though, as mentioned above, have a good think for yourself – philosophy is always much more rewarding when you see some of your own ideas, opinions and leanings cropping up and being discussed/challenged/affirmed by some of the world’s greatest thinkers.
As far as newspapers go, by all means read as much as you want, but take all of it with a pinch of salt. As businesses, newspapers’ primary function is no to report the facts – it’s to make money. This has nothing to do with the money they make from people buying their newspaper – they make their money from selling advertising space to companies. Essentially, the larger the circulation, the more a newspaper can charge companies to advertise in its pages. It may not seem like it, but this can also (and does, massively) effect the news stories that a paper chooses and chooses not to print. I could go on and on for a while about the intricacies of all this but suffice to say, don’t believe everything you read – articles that get printed (as with the ones that get left out) are selected for a reason – a reason which is, in itself, highly political. If you’re searching for something close to the truth (whatever that might be) with regards to anything from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to general election coverage, you won’t find it on CNN or in the pages of The New York Times.
For a good example of how ‘selective’ the media can be I would highly recommend reading Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky. It’s dense and can seem a little over-comprehensive, but it provides an excellent in-depth critique of the corporate-owned media and its inherent biases.
