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Being informed

As we strive to be Lacombe and Blackfalds’ premier source for local news, we charge ourselves with being a fair, unbiased source

As we strive to be Lacombe and Blackfalds’ premier source for local news, we charge ourselves with being a fair, unbiased source for factual information. That means putting our own opinions aside when we write stories (apart from those that appear on this page and our other opinion pieces of course) and not try to influence our readers in one way or the other or pursue any agenda of our own.

However, there is one agenda that the Express and every newspaper in the world should pursue. That agenda is the promotion of this message - inform yourself.

As opinion pieces published previously in our paper have mentioned before, there is a lot of misinformation out there.

Sometimes, it is diffi cult to sort out fact from fi ction and identify what is misinformation and what isn’t. That’s why it is important not to believe everything you see or read and research anything that seems fi shy.

When people are misinformed, bad things happen. There is nothing more frustrating than listening to an uninformed person talk at length about something they think they know about when in reality their information comes from myths, lies and misconceptions.

Don’t be that uninformed person. As the Canadian punk band Propagandhi said, adapted from the age-old saying, “Knowledge is power, arm yourself.”

It is also important when researching things and arming yourself with knowledge to keep an open mind. A belief you previously held may turn out to be untrue and you may discover that an opinion you held on a certain issue is not as rational as you originally perceived.

As another great musical artist, K’naan said, again adapted from another ancient saying, “Any man who knows a thing knows, he knows not a damn, damn thing at all.”

No one knows everything. That includes you and it also includes the sources of the information you are researching.

That’s why, in order to be a well-informed, well-rounded person, it is essential to gather information on any topic from a number of different sources and never to solely trust just one.