The Prevention of Ignorance

Historically, information sources provided to American citizens were limited due to the few
methods available to the public, such as radio, TV, or news print. And also this information was
subject to being filtered and, in some cases, delayed. This occurred for a number of reasons,
which included political ones.
Now, and with arguably great elation, there is the internet, which can be rather beneficial for the
average citizen.
Soon after the advent of the internet well over a decade ago, web logs were created, that are now
termed ‘blogs’. At that time the blogs were referred to as personal journals or diaries visible on
line. As time passed, blogs became a media medium, and blog communities evolved into
addressing topics that often were not often addressed in mainstream media, as they crossed
previously existing political and social lines. In addition, blogs provide immediate contributions
by others, the readers of the posts of the blog authors, instead of the cumbersomeness of opinion
and editorial pieces historically and not always presented in such media forms as newspapers or
magazines.
The authors of blogs vary as far as their backgrounds and intent of what they choose to address
on their blogs exactly, just as with other media forms. Some are employed by the very media
sources that existed before them. Furthermore, they are not exonerated from the legalities of
what is written, such as cases of libel. While we can presume that bloggers like to write, they
may not be quality writers, yet several are in fact journalists, as well as doctors and lawyers, for
example. But to write is to think, which I believe is a good quality one should have. Regardless,
a type of Socratic learning seems to be occurring due to the advent of blogs.
Yet presently, blogs have become quite a driving force for those with objectives and issues often
opposed by others, and therefore have become a serious threat to others. These others may be
politicians, our government, or corporations- all of which have been known to monitor the
content of certain blogs of concern to them for their potential to negatively affect their image or
their activities previously undisclosed. This is why blogs, on occasion, have become a media
medium for whistleblowers, which will be addressed further in a moment.
While one disadvantage of blogs is the potential lack of reliability, blogs however do allow in
addition to the comments of its readers the posting of authentic internal or confidential
documents that typically are not created to be viewed by the public, yet are acquired by certain
bloggers. For example, blogger Dr. Peter Rost, a whistleblower himself, not long ago posted a
newsletter published by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on his blog site, and this
newsletter was given to him by AstraZeneca's employees who called themselves the ‘AZ Group
of Seven’- with the intent of this group being to bring to the attention of others the illegal activity
of off-label promotion of one of AZ’s cancer drugs promoted by their employer. Yet this
particular concern by AZ seven, by surprise, is not what caught the attention of so many who
viewed the posted newsletter by Dr. Rost and was read with great interest by others. It was
instead a comment included in this newsletter that was stated by former regional AZ manager
Mike Zubalagga, who was being interviewed by a district manager in this newsletter. Mr.
Zubalagga, who in this newsletter posted on Dr Rost's blog site, referred to doctors’ offices as
‘buckets of money’, which caught the attention of several readers. This and other statements by
this man were in fact published in this newsletter clearly not reviewed before its publication. .
Again, the statement and the newsletter created by AZ was indeed authentic and further validated
due to the content being in the written word, which added credibility.
Mr. Zubalagga was fired the next day due to this ‘buckets of money’ commentdue to the effect it
had on the image of his employer. His manager resigned soon afterwards from AZ.
Blogs, one can safely conclude, reveal secrets.
And there have been other whistleblower cases on various blogs in addition to this one described
a moment ago, which illustrates the power of blogs as being a very powerful and threatening
media medium of valid information disclosure that others cannot prevent from occurring.
This, in my opinion, is true freedom of information- largely free of embellishments or selective
omissions. It’s a step towards communication utopia, perhaps, yet a force that has the ability to
both harm and protect many others.
Yet again, the information on these blogs should not be taken as absolute truth without proof to
verify claims that may be made, as with other media sources. Of course, documents that are
authentic is an example of a good validation source. And this, in my opinion, is the blog’s
greatest value, combined with the comments on blogs from the growing number of readers who
are allowed to contribute to the subject matter so quickly, which fuels the objectives of the blogs,
which may be a type of Socratic learning.
Like other written statements, some on such internet sites are composed with respect of the
written word. Others are not. It's the freedom that may be most appealing of this new medium
which has the ability to convert citizens into journalists who want to contribute to an issue of
their concern they share with the blogger often with great conviction and accuracy.
Because we, the public, have a right to know what we are entitled to know and what we want to
know. This is especially true if the information disclosed on blogs could potentially be adverse to
our well-being.
Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power.
“Information is the seed of an idea, and only grows when it’s watered.” --- Heinz V. Berger
Dan Abshear