Being Informed

A week ago, I didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was. It was a happier time. Now that I know, it raises a question for me. Am I better informed than I was a week ago?

On some level, the answer is obviously yes. I have a piece of information that I lacked before. But that’s not really what I mean. I’m really thinking of the Thomas Jefferson quote, “A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate.” Jefferson wasn’t just talking about any old information. Being a master of bar trivia doesn’t make you a savior of democracy. To be informed in the relevant sense, the information needs to be about the right things.

One of those things is governance itself. This is what we should have learned in civics classes in school. We need to know how the government works. When we vote, it’s not just who we’re voting for, but what position we’re voting for. What does the president do? Or the mayor? Or the board of education?

Of course, we also need to know who is running for and who holds office to be informed. Since we supposedly live in a representative democracy, we need to know who is, and wants to be, representing us.

Finally, we need to know the “issues” if we want to be well-informed. This is the hardest part. Almost anything can be an issue, in theory. People have tried to make the color of the president’s suit into an issue. That’s not a real issue, though. Real issues are things like the budget, human rights, use of the military, and environmental concerns. There are far too many issues to list here, and no one can be expert in all of them. Most people, even the most well-informed, pick a handful of issues that they care most about and focus on those. I could (should?) write another whole essay on the problems with this approach, but it’s not my concern here. I just need to stress that familiarity with the issues is part of being informed.

So, getting back to my original question, am I better informed, in the relevant sense, than I was a week ago? I’m strongly leaning no. I’m not better informed than I was a week ago. I certainly don’t feel better informed. Kirk wasn’t a politician or involved with governance. As far as I can tell, he didn’t have any expertise on any issues. He was a victim of gun violence. Gun violence is an important issue, but it’s also, unfortunately, ubiquitous. Knowing one more victim’s name doesn’t tip the scales of information.