Have you ever heard of “selective exposure?” If you wouldn’t agree with it, then you probably haven’t… It is a theory that suggests that people favor information that reinforce their beliefs. So does that mean we ignore the available information we don’t agree with?

war correspondent and soldiers (photo via Flickr/The U.S. Army)

I have tremendous respect for foreign news journalists– especially those who venture into the battlefield (figuratively and literally) to get a story. Recently, James Foley, a freelance reporter working in Syria, was seen worldwide being beheaded by the ISIS. Freelance journalist, Tom A. Peter, wrote an interesting article discussing Foley, his own war reporting experience, and why he decided that it wasn’t worth it. But where does the worth in such an important job disappear? Foley risked his life on the front line of war so that we, as news consumers, could know the facts, but those of us who don’t agree with “the facts” from an opposing perspective continue to unfairly debate contrasting information, like that of what Foley died for.