Misinformation in an age of information.

It is not until you are in an environment that has a controlled information source, like Cuba, that you realise that opinions are still,very often, formed by mouth to mouth conversation.

Hearty debates and conversation are all well and good in an atmosphere where you can fact check if you feel as though what you are told may be incorrect or twisted for effect by the teller. But, when you are in a place where internet access is nil, television content is monitored, and books are controlled for content, you have to be aware that the information you are giving is quite realistically the "be all and end all" of the awareness that the person you are talking to has on the subject.

Why am I babbling about this?

While I was in Cuba - time and time again I heard my fellow Canadians tell tales and give information that was in all senses of the word - incorrect and even to some extent, ignorant.

I am of the opinion that if you don't know what you are talking about - shut up. If you don't have the information or the facts to give a source of information to a person who doesn't know the difference than you should not be talking about the given subject.

Being schooled and forever interested in Architecture, I feel as though I know a thing or two about it - so when I approached our lobby bar one morning and heard someone (judging by their accent, from Ontario somewhere) tell the bartender who was listening with their mouth hanging open, that they were facinated by Havana because Canada has NO OLD BUILDINGS IN IT, I was appalled.

First of all - the bartender obviously thought that we were living in a new age enviornment, stark of history or culture, and then was of the opinion that Canada has only new facades and skyscrapers dotting its landscape in the way that someone from North America would picture New York. Which is completely incorrect.

Quebec is filled with old buildings! Ontario's neighbour. With a dozen or more, still standing structures that were built is the 1600's.

The oldest church in North America is rumoured to be right here in Newfoundland - located in Carbonear.

Anyway, before I get too carried away with the subject - I guess I am airing another pet peeve. It happens all the time, all around us, and it is probably the cause of origin for the saying:

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see"