The Show Must Go On

I had a visit from our youngest this week. We talked a bit about current events and the onslaught of distressing news right now. Something interesting emerged.

“I have a friend who’s never had anyone to teach them how to tell whether things on the Internet are real or not. And right now there’s so many upsetting things out there. So we sit down and I have been explaining how you can tell if something is fake, or how to tell if something is an unreliable or discredited source.”

I was proud. And I was grateful to have a kid who is capable of doing that and would take the time to do that to help someone else. 

I’ve been thinking a lot since then about what makes it possible to be media literate/savvy these days. My kid is a graduate of the county schools, has a liberal arts degree from UMBC, and has family who reads, discusses, and analyzes current events. A lot.

Is that where it comes from? Did education develop and hone those critical thinking skills and did family experiences provide continued opportunities to stretch and deepen them? And I wonder if part of it is something innate that makes one want to dig deeper and understand, reaching beyond surface soundbites and clickbait?

In the midst of my pondering I came across this post by writer Ally Henny:

Believe it or not, but being educated in the arts is also an important part of media literacy. 

A lot of people, and by people I mean folks who use this app and not just young people, who are unable to discern when things are staged, when stuff has been edited, when a video is a skit, satire, etc. I believe that a lot of this is happening at least in part because of a lack of exposure or familiarity with the arts. 

And, of course, this isn’t a judgment. But I think it might help explain a lot.

My kid, this kid who is no longer a kid, is my one hundred per cent musical theatre kid. Participated in band, choral singing, and acapella groups. Performed in school musicals and went to musical theatre camps. Has a degree in theatre studies. Teaches voice, piano, drama, and directs both musicals and straight drama productions.

Boom.

This reminds me of a piece I wrote back in October about the Humanities.

Studying topics within the humanities (this includes the arts, remember) provides us with the tools to think creatively and critically, to reason, and ask questions. Additionally, it fosters the ability to look at things from different points of view, which, in turn, develops empathy. All of these things are crucial in becoming active and informed in civic engagement. They contribute to building better informed and more consistent voters plus they are strong motivators for community engagement and volunteering.

Human brains are not merely overgrown vending machines with neat rows of separated silos of products waiting to be purchased. So much about how we learn and who we are is an amazing interconnected web of possibilities. To devalue and eliminate the humanities cuts us off from a profound element of who we are.

It also weakens our ability to participate in democracy or even to understand it.

If we can’t tell whether things that are being presented to us are real or false, how can we stay informed and engage/participate in a democratic society?

…being educated in the arts is also an important part of media literacy. 

Not the only part, mind you, but an important one. And we, as parents or as role models to young people, can empower that essential growth in media literacy by validating their involvement in arts experiences. And then someday it will be one of those kids sitting down with a friend and showing them how to discern truth from trickery.

*****

An almost unbelievable postscript to this story is the announcement late yesterday that the current President intends to seize control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It could not be more clear: attempts to control and suppress artistic expression are the hallmarks of anti-democratic political systems. - - jam

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