#85 / Perils Of Prediction

I enjoyed a recent article in The New Republic, "The Political Media’s Blurred Reality." The article made (legitimate) fun of the various media pundits who have been covering the current presidential race, specifically including Rachel Maddow, who seems to be a favorite of the liberals and the Democrats. I am, as you might deduce from this somewhat catty remark, not a big fan.

At any rate, The New Republic article points out the hazards of "pack journalism," and I think it is right on target. My point in passing on the article is simply to remind my readers of a point I make quite consistently: it is not our assignment, in life, to "observe," and to "predict." 

There is nothing wrong with informed observation, and with becoming "informed spectators." But if we begin to believe that this is our main assignment, and that this is what we are mainly supposed to do as our democratic homework, we have profoundly mistaken our mission. 

Ours is not the task of good "observation," which is what all those pundits do, to whom (The New Republic says) we all tend to pander. 

No. Our task is to think, talk, and act!

Forget about "prediction." Self-government begins when we begin to get involved in both individual and collective action ourselves.

Image Credit:

https://newrepublic.com/article/156822/political-media-failure-2016-2020-elections