Are people less informed of the world than in the past?

[Shaka_Khan]

I think so when I look at this article. -> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/...men_kidnapping

Nine foreign hostages killed in Yemen

SAN'A, Yemen – Nine missing foreigners in Yemen have been murdered, said a Yemeni official Monday, apparently executed by their kidnappers in the impoverished nation in the Arabian peninsula where al-Qaida has a strong presence.

The nine foreigners, including seven German nationals, a Briton and a South Korean, disappeared last week while on a picnic in the restive northern Saada region of Yemen....

I doubt they would've been there if they knew what was going to happen to them. They probably thought they'd be safe as long as they weren't Americans. This isn't the only time or country that this sort of tragedy happened either. I think it's because the news doesn't cover everything that happens in the world. We know more of the old world from history books than we do of modern events. The government or the media should do more to inform people.

[rory_20_uk]

In the past most people had no information about the world even if they wanted it.

Those that had access generally wern't that interested.

A small goup of morons doesn't prove things one way or the other.

[rasoforos]

Picnic in Yemen?

Surely no one can be that daft...

...especially people who live there...

...so maybe we are not seeing the whole story.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

No, people are way more informed.

[KukriKhan]

Yemeni authorities said the group included a German doctor, his wife and their three children, as well as a Briton and his South Korean wife and two other German nationals. They were all working in a hospital in Saada, the state news agency said.

They were all working there, not just mindless tourists trying for a cheap picnic. By definition, would they not be better-informed of risk than a 1950's do-gooder, or tourist?

[Fragony]

Picnic in Yemen?

Surely no one can be that daft...

lol it it is normal that people let theirselves be kidnapped in yemen, public secret.

[rasoforos]

lol it it is normal that people let theirselves be kidnapped in yemen, public secret.

Thinks of answering...

....thinks better. You will understand eventually.

[Fragony]

Thinks of answering...

....thinks better. You will understand eventually.

tourists in yemen allow theirselves to be kidnapped, wanna bet?

[rasoforos]

Sorry but I will not enable you.

[Shaka_Khan]

They were all working there, not just mindless tourists trying for a cheap picnic. By definition, would they not be better-informed of risk than a 1950's do-gooder, or tourist?

I still doubt they would've been there if they knew how risky the place was. It's the same with the workers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now we all know the risks in those two countries because of what happened to those workers.

[Kadagar_AV]

No, people in average is more informed than in the past.

However, there is soooooo much more information available today than in the past, and so much easier accesible... so those still ignorant just seem so very much more stupid in the eyes of those enlightened.

[Kralizec]

They were all working there, not just mindless tourists trying for a cheap picnic. By definition, would they not be better-informed of risk than a 1950's do-gooder, or tourist?

I agree, they probably took a calculated risk and got unlucky. I assume that security there varies per region in Yemen. That these people were completely unaware of the dangers in the country seems rather unlikely.

[Scurvy]

If anything, the opposite is true. People recieve so much information that it 'overloads.' ie. People are warned so much, that they become apethetic and ignore signs or advice.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Much MORE information is available, but it would be more difficult to assert that BETTER information is available. For example, I just googled "dinosaur steaks" and got 487 results.

Many more people are literate and capable of accessing the information that is out there, but many choose ignorance (not by evil intent, just by focusing on their own immediate goals/needs).

[Samurai Waki]

this reminds me that I probably should cancel going to the Corporate Picnic in Pyongyang...

[CountArach]

The mere fact that we know that they were taken hostage shows we know more.

[a completely inoffensive name]

In the past people were not informed because there was no information circulated among the public in the first place.

Today people are bombarded with an excess of useless information in circulation where people are now more knowledgeable then ever before, but only about celebrities and their friends' last status update.

So no, the ignorance of the world around them is about equal, but for the exact opposite reasons.

[Papewaio]

Data =/= Information =/= Knowledge =/= Understanding =/= Wisdom

Yes there is a linkage. But it still takes aptitude/effort/skill to transform one to the other.

School should teach us how to access data and information and then critically assess and transform it.

[Major Robert Dump]

What is so bad about Yemen? I thought it was the escort capitol of the world, big parties, no fuss if you take a gun or seven. I'm not canceling my vacation

[Shaka_Khan]

this reminds me that I probably should cancel going to the Corporate Picnic in Pyongyang...

North Korea was obvious ever since 1950.

I put the title wrong. I was thinking more about us knowing more about old events such as WWII than what happened in Afghanistan or Iran.