Media literacy; does it bind or break us?

I would like to begin this post by saying I am not afraid of technology. I am not afraid of the internet. I believe that technology is not perverting and ruining humans and humanity. Actually I believe the quite opposite. It enables more people than ever before to be informed on nearly infinite subject matter. It allows us to teach ourselves, and, I believe, it aids in removing intellect as a power lauded over the majority by the ruling class minority. Though nothing thus far has been able to connect the entirety of the human race, the internet, and mass media in general, is the only thing thats even come close. That said, deciphering the media and learning to read between the sometimes razor thin lines is a necessary tool in todays world.

I'd like to start off this post with the commentary of a website both, applauded, and abused by teenagers; wikipedia. Wikipedia states that " Media literacy is the process of analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. Media literacy education provides tools to help people critically analyze messages to detect propaganda, censorship, and bias." If that is what media literacy is, I believe that that is something that should have been taught for hundreds of years, and should always be taught until the end of time. It is hard, in school, at work, while watching television, or even while listening to a friend, to decipher fact from opinion. Certainly there are things one learns about in school which are proven facts (like how many bones are in the human body). But apart from science, very few disiplines teach us anything that can't be challenged. We have found that from Jesus to Columbus, you can't always believe every piece of 'historical documentation' you read. Everything was written by people (and most things were written by men).

I understand that with a growth of media, comes a greater need for media literacy. However I don't understand why we are just discovering now, the great need to decipher words from their meaning(s). This has always been a vital necessity for humans. The greatest gift is the gift of comunication, but we much understand how to communicate accurately before wasting it entirely.

In regards to the photo I began this post with, I believe that it is an empowering way to look at communication and knowledge rather than a dig at it. We know that we can find a/the answer to almost any question via the greatest invention technology has ever given us, the search engine. I believe that since we have access to so many different thoughts, ideas, and facts it is natural for us to use this. It's not 'the easy way out', its simply 'the easy way'. And I for one am glad that we have found a way so easy, that anyones thirst for knowledge can be momentarily quenched, just at the click of a button.