Pre-made Opinions

Tonight, I'm reading How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler (while watching the great movie, Buckaroo Banzai).  Adler makes the very convincing point that we altogether too often fall prey to regurgitating ready-made opinions that are fed to us by media sources.  While this idea is not revolutionary in any way, what I found interesting was the connection that he made between our belief that we are informed and wise, when we are actually just accepting pre-cooked opinions.  

Part of the difficulty with media sources is that because of the short time in which they (and we) have to transmit the information, they take pieces of information and digest them for us.  They share with us the information in a manner that makes it sound like there is really only one way to interpret the data, when it is rarely that simple.  

But what are we to do?  If we can't believe the talking heads, is the only way to do in-depth research into every subject?  Well, I don't think the answer is that difficult.  It is certainly true that understanding does not require full knowledge.  But some knowledge is necessary for understanding.  

More later perhaps.