How Would the World Be If We ALL Knew 10 New Facts About 10 Different Nations Every Day?
Say what?!
Chill out. There are 206 nations. We are talking about 10. That translates to knowing something new about less than 5% of the world everyday.
And I need to know about all these nations because…?
Because you do not solely live where your body stands. You live in the world. What you do affects other people. When you sit and use a cell phone, you affect other people by indirectly demanding others get up and fetch the minerals required for phones to even function and exist. When you vote for particular candidates, you affect what laws will and will not get passed…which affect other people and even the physical space of your worldly home. In turn, others affect you.
So what do you want me to do exactly?
Start by ditching Facebook as the main source of news. (Really? 40% of U.S. adults use Facebook to get news?!) Then read a lot. Read reliable international new sources. Read about groups of people rather than single individuals. Read from at least 5 different new sources. Read a lot. And remember what you read. Then think critically.
What if I do not have time?
Does that mean you also do not have time to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Buzzfeed, Tumblr, Wordpress, Blogspot, Reddit, Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go…?
Those things are to escape and de-stress!
The things you are trying to escape may be solved if people better worked together in using knowledge as power. If everyone knew significantly more about how different systems are intertwined and influence each other, would there still be a “hamster wheel” way of life? Would people go about caring for health differently? Would poverty still look the same? If these examples are too much, consider this simple thought: would there be such prejudice and discrimination if people truly learned there are more similarities than differences? And that things like race and gender are socially constructed rather than biologically?
But the other things are to keep in contact with other people.
You will not be able to be in good contact with loved ones very long if the world crumbles into pieces physically (see: example of Kiribati) and socially (see: example of current social and political climate in U.S.).
OK, fine. But do we have to know 10 facts EVERYDAY?
If you can continue to closely keep track of Trump’s impulsive words, Kim Kardashian’s (or her sister’s?) new business lines, Kylie Jenner’s (or her sister’s?) new business lines, Kanye’s new acts of pissing people off, Starbucks’ yearly cup controversies, Chipotle’s scandals (or any other chain restaurant scandals), NBA/NFL/MLB/NH scores and rants, Kaepernick’s next move, the Obamas’ sweet moments with each other, Clinton’s emails (does anyone ever try to actually read the emails?)….you can surely branch out a bit and focus less on individual people and more on groups of people.
10 different nations…I am still wrapping my head around this.
OK, the U.S. can count as one. There are nine more to go. Easy nations sprinkled around the world that are often seen in the news anyway include Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, France, Russia, Syria, Iraq, China, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand… Really strive for spreading all 10 nations across continents.
I do not see all those in the news…
...Did you try the Guardian, BBC, CBC, ABC, Aljazeera…?
Why are you promoting this? This is what history classes were for!
Because clearly the education system has failed.
Nope, nope…I cannot do this. It is not realistic.
Then it is not realistic that your vote is based on sound information gathering and critical thinking. Please do not vote next time.
Ignorance is bliss…but damn expensive.