Recently I had a friend call me in a panic, apparently her son-in-law told her she was no longer going to have her beloved insurance any longer. He explained to her that while listening to Rush Limbaugh, Rush covered a story about China buying the Louisville based company, Humana. I'm not sure if Rush mentioned that when China bought the insurance giant, they would shut down all insurance plans or if the son-in-law just assumed that since it was China, that's how the evil Chinese operate. Regardless, I had some consoling to do.
By doing a quick Google search I found that in the news the Louisville based insurance company had recently purchased a chain of urgent care clinics and a humanitarian group, called Humana: People-to-People, expanded their effort to assist poverty-stricken people in China. I explained to her the apparent misunderstanding and we engaged in a continued dialogue about who we would blame for this concern causing hunt for the truth, Rush or the son-in-law.
Needless to say, I was relieved to have such immediate access to the information.
But I'm still angry!
While I think it's amazing that we have the entire world of information at our fingertips, somehow it's made society less intelligent. Even worse, people are even more confident in their unintelligence and willing to share this stupidity.
Everyone's the smartest person they know and because we have access to the internet, we have no belief in experts. Why have faith in the doctor that's spent half a lifetime in school when you've consulted WebMD? Of course your mechanic must be trying to get over on you because a simple web search has told you exactly the reason your check engine light in on and there can't be any truth to what the government is up to unless it's reported by TMZ. I've even had the pleasure of listening to a lady, whom claims to have been a part-time teacher's assistant, let loose on a man with an aspergers teenager on his child-rearing short comings.
I guess not only can you get your genius from the internet, it can be acquired through osmosis. Then again, what do I know? I'm not a blogger, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
