They call this the age of information for good reason. As I write this column, I have a smart phone on my hip, a Kindle e-Reader in my drawer, a landline, and two computers connected to high speed Internet. I can find out anything within seconds. Of course that is the problem.

I can literally get whatever answer I want to hear anytime I want to hear it. Conversely, I can shut out anything I find too disagreeable. What’s more, I can say anything I want and see it published 10 different ways without very much effort at all. While that all sounds great and very democratic, it does not bode well for the quality of information available.

The fact is that even academic institutions cannot be trusted for accurate, or at least verifiable, information on their websites. But then, it devolves from there until we find ourselves on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever that new one is — reading all sorts of unchecked facts and other versions of a dubious reality.