The late-night TV comedian offered an observation that could prove prophetic: We are destined to become the most well-informed society ever to die of ignorance.

Little about the current health care debate - if you can call it that - makes sense when the news media does a poor job of bringing enlightenment to the issue. Most of the news reporting we’ve seen has been focused not on the actual merits of the health care plan before Congress but on the rampant wave of incivility, distrust and misinformation propagated by a handful of extremists at town hall meetings all across the country.

Clearly, many of the angry protestors at these meetings are ill-informed. The general public would benefit greatly from knowing how they got that way.

Americans seem to be getting much of their information not from responsible media but from purveyors of partisan viewpoints, some of whom are bent on making a mockery of the democratic process. Ridiculous claims of “death panels” and free health care for undocumented immigrants are being passed along as truthful provisions in the Obama health care plan. Many of these provably false notions come from the same media strands that routinely give credence and encouragement to the lunatic fringe.

Where are all the honest brokers of truth and accurate information in this country? Why aren’t the mainstream media spending more time and effort dispelling the outlandishly wrong information tied to health care and other issues?

Missing in the coverage is an honest attempt to provide real clarity and context. I’m amazed by the failure of the media to educate the public about the theory and philosophy of “socialism.” We’re allowing partisan groups to get away with assigning a definition to the term that does not apply to our society. Someone should point out that Soviet-style socialism is simply not in this country’s DNA.

If you accept the broad definition of the word, however, socialism applies to the way we organize every single public function in this country including Social Security, Medicare, welfare and unemployment benefits. It also applies to local government, police department, fire department, school system, city building inspections and street traffic control. At its core, it is all socialism. But in America, we don’t call it that.

In fairness, the whole misinformation and disinformation mess is not entirely the media’s fault. The truth is, many Americans have consciously chosen to forego the mainstream media in favor of the faulty logic and oftentimes nutty reasoning of a cadre of over-opinionated fast-talkers with names like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Olbermann and Maddow. These folks aren’t necessarily in the business of telling the truth. They’re in the business of offering their opinion however twisted and misdirected. Consumers of news are poorly served when they depend solely on these highly overrated windbags to provide them with information about any topic.

Staying well informed takes a lot of hard work. For many, it is easier to just let Limbaugh interpret the truth for them. The result is that many Americans have lost their ability to discern the difference between opinion and fact. Intellectual laziness is the root of ignorance and incivility. From this perspective, it is easy to see how so many seemingly level-headed citizens allow themselves to be manipulated into engaging in disruptive behavior at town hall meetings.

Citizens should take the time to independently seek out accurate, balanced information. Most importantly, they should consider viewpoints that are opposite their own. A lifetime in the news media has taught me that too many consumers of news have absolutely no idea what constitutes factual news versus editorial opinion. For the unthinking, it’s all the same.

There are still some media outlets large and small, influential and obscure on every imaginable distribution platform that can provide truthful, unbiased information. Town hall meetings are highly useful forums for constituents to gain valuable information from their political leaders and the Internet has become an essential research tool.

American writer Laurence Peter aptly wrote that “Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well-informed just to be undecided about them.”

Surely, the responsible news media should do a better job of fostering a better understanding of the real issues that affect the daily lives of citizens.

But when all is said and done, the responsibility for making informed, intelligent decisions lies entirely with the individual - not the media.

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Roy Ortega is a journalist with more than 30 years in the television, print and online news business. He can be reached at rortega54@elp.rr.com.