Can we know the answer to all problems buy purchasing a ticket?

Last month there was some controversy surrounding a small circus performing in Palos Hills. PETA asked the city to cancel the shows because PETA claimed the animals were being mistreated. In the end the circus went on, no protests happened and it was a non-issue until a recent Palos Hills City Council meeting.

According to an article in The Reporter, Claudia Pasek, wife of my Alderman Al Pasek, said, "I want to emphasize that the circus is mostly extremely talented people and the animals are not exploited during the circus act.”

I found this line of thought fascinating. No where in the article does it say that Pasek did any personal research. She doesn't seem to have attended any animal training sessions. She doesn't seem to have spoken with anyone from either PETA or the circus. Her entire body of knowledge comes from sitting in the seats and watching the circus.

Now I know the reason we can't solve the big issues affecting our communities. All those people doing research and conducting studies and going into the fields seem to be wasting their time. If we took the Pasek Method of Problem Solving we could just sit around watching the Blues Brothers and decide we know everything there is to know about law enforcement. Perhaps we could use the Pasek Method of Problem Solving to watch West Side Story to figure out how to resolve gang issues. I can just see rival gangs dancing and singing down the streets of Palos Hills to settle disputes, can't you?

Yes, I do realize it's a ridiculous thing to suggest, but isn't that exactly what Pasek suggested? She sat in a seat, watched a show and declared that all the animals were treated well. After all, if the circus producers were going to mistreat animals, surely they'd put it in the show, wouldn't they? There's no reason for them to hide it after all.

I don't know what happens while the circus is training its animals, and it's really not the point here. The problem is we hear statements like this all the time when it comes to policy decisions. People see something like a circus or other entertainment show and declare it the truth. The end result is an uninformed electorate that makes decisions about important issues based on entertainment, not news and research. Until people can actually substantiate their opinions with some type of research then we'll continue to have silly statements like Pasek's being passed off as fact.