Informed Citizenry

“An informed citizenry will benefit from applying both creative thinking and critical thinking in solving the challenges of our society.” The definition of an informed citizen is having sufficient and sufficiently reliable information or knowledge to be able to understand a subject or situation and make appropriate judgments or decisions regarding it. If I had to have a personal definition on an informed citizen I would say that it means involving ourselves with the overall knowledge of politics to the point that we can exercise our views and opinions in a responsible way.
The definition for creative is using or showing use of the imagination to create new ideas or things. The definition for critical thinking is disciplined intellectual criticism that combines research, knowledge of historical context, and balanced judgment. To really evaluate those words should be the first approach to changing yourself. I say that because if a person did not possess any of those qualities, then they should because the opportunities that those two words contain are limitless.
When the topic of politics comes up in a discussion, it is almost like having a discussion about religion. What I mean by that is whenever a discussion on religion or politics comes up; people get into these deep discussions about what’s right and what’s wrong. No matter how close you are to your friends or family, this discussion usually draws opinions out into the open that cause conflict. In general I would say that this is a normal outcome because as human beings it is natural to have opinions and it’s our right to express them freely. Just because we have the right to express our opinion, does that mean that we should express it?
Being an informed citizen should be the first thing to do when getting into a discussion about politics. I know that many people have heard the saying “knowledge is power”, well the fact of the matter is, that’s true. Education is just the basics of becoming an informed