Eating our
informational vegetables

I did it. My son did it. My grandson and granddaughters did it. It’s pretty much safe to assume that every kid’s done it at some point in his or her young life.

“Eat your vegetables,” a parent extorts.

“They’re yucky. I don’t like them,” is the immediate reply.

“Have you tried them?” the parent comes back.

“I don’t need to. They’re slimy,” is the child’s retort.

As it turns out, most of us eventually learn they aren’t that slimy. Maybe it was that people used to overcook or undercook them, but some vegetables, cooked properly, have become among my favorite foods.

I venture to Panda Kitchen in Hillsboro about once a week especially for its broccoli chicken. As I grew out of childish ways, my palate reclassified broccoli from slimy to tasty to treat. I also regularly visit Carlsons’ Grocery in Marion to stock up on frozen vegetable medleys that include it.

These days, many adults — especially younger ones — seem to consume news with the same lack of fervor as children eating vegetables. They avoid legitimate news at all costs and rely instead on the sweet nothings whispered to them by social media.

I just received a very pleasant call from a prominent local educator apologizing for negative comments he had made about our paper to one of his students.

In his extremely professional and welcome call, details of which aren’t important, he admitted he doesn’t read our paper — or any paper. He instead gets all his news from the various rants and raves that pop up on his social media feeds.

That’s his right, of course. In a democracy, everyone has the absolute right to ignore facts and believe whatever he or she wishes. But for democracy to function as intended, without bullies and bureaucrats taking over, an informed citizenry is essential.

As founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” 

At this point, of course, I’m preaching to the choir. You who are reading this editorial already know the importance of being an informed citizen in our society. But many of you also worry about whether our society can endure the sometimes autocratic rule of bullies and bureaucrats. And many of you feel powerless to combat that trend.

One way, as we repeatedly have advocated, is to speak up and run for office, deadlines for which are rapidly approaching. But another — perhaps less demanding of your time — is to encourage others to do as you do and try to keep up with real news.

Yes, news has been overcooked or undercooked in the past by organizations that pretend to be journalistic or that care more for their corporate bottom line than they do for the fate of democracy.

But we and other news organizations have tried mightily to cook our informational vegetables right and even include a bit of dessert in the form of entertaining features. All that’s needed is for more of those typically younger readers to actually taste our vegetables rather than avoid them without ever bothering to sample them.

That’s one reason why we’re offering free 13-week subscriptions to Marion County residents who haven’t subscribed within the past six months.

You don’t need to sign up. You’re already reading the paper. But your friends, neighbors, or relatives might be among those who still think our broccoli is slimy.

Do them a favor. Encourage them to go to https://mnks.us/free/ and enter promo code MN25 to sample us totally free for the next 13 weeks. Imagine yourself to be a primary care physician for democracy, constantly encouraging patients to eat better and exercise more.

Getting them to grow up and actually taste what they think is yucky won’t automatically get rid of abuses by bullies and bureaucrats, but it’s a first step. And who knows? They might actually like our broccoli.

— ERIC MEYER