[gathly]

I agree with this. In order to be a citizen of a democracy, you need to be informed. Most things require research and listening to different points of view. They can't just be reasoned out. They require paying attention. Most of what you hear in mainstream or most any news will be noise, but there are bits in the stream that you need to sift out in order to participate in the government of your society.

Of course, democracies around the world are flawed, and being informed about the world will not necessarily lead to change, but being uninformed about the world will necessarily lead to change for the worse. Being a citizen of a democracy is about more than voting every few years. It's a full-time responsibility, and if you just take yourself out of it, you lose it.