the problem with information consumption...

...is that all new information has to be incorporated into your existing perception of reality, regardless of the origin, content, context, or credibility of that information. fact or fiction, news or rumor, journalistic analysis or conspiricy theory, it all has to be factored in, conciously or uncounciously. this means that our perception of reality is rapidly being altered with the massive amounts of information.

our little brains don't like this, so we come up with ways to cope: dogmatism, polorization, and ideology. This helps primarily because it forces us to choose our information sources based on what those information sources are likely to say. We don't bother thinking about things, we let michael moore, or rush limbaugh, or sean hannity, or noam chomsky, or the writers of "star trek", or britteny spears, or some other voice to think for us. We don't think anymore, we choose which media identity to identify with, and leave it at that.

After all, who wants to think for themselves? With all the information out there, that's a full-time job, and we all have to go to work, pay bills, and entertain ourselves with tv, books, radio, and movies to get our mind off of our work and bills.