Feasting on junk info

[Commentary] There is a new kind of ignorance afoot in the world, one that results from overconsumption of information rather than from a lack of access to it. It's fashionable to blame cable television and the Internet for this new ignorance. And it's true that if you spend much time watching cable news and surfing the Internet, you'll come away thinking that many information providers are more interested in fanning fear and feeding people's preconceived notions than they are at communicating truth. But we should really blame ourselves for the content we're seeing. Why? Because what shows up on the Internet and cable television is shaped by what we choose to click on and watch, and we're making terrible choices. Your habits have immense power. A movement led by a few dozen activists and a few high-end consumers led Wal-Mart to significantly reduce the salt, fat and sugar content in the foods it sells. You can do the same thing for the media. Let's make the market chase us. Consume deliberately, consume locally, consume close to the original source, consume less and produce more. Seek facts, not comfort. And not all the time. We'll all be better off.