A broad definition of “common knowledge” is information an average, educated person can accept as reliable and accurate without having to verify it. However, what we individually consider “common” is often completely unfamiliar to those outside our individual sphere of experience and understanding.
In the workplace, for example, common knowledge for a plumber or an electrician is likely to be uncommon knowledge for a lawyer or a doctor. In sports, common knowledge for the football fan is likely not familiar to the lacrosse fan. Common knowledge for a rural resident is unknown territory (literally) to a city dweller, and the list goes on, ad infinitum.
TV and movies and books offer us glimpses into “how the sausage is made” in different industries, sometimes with accuracy but usually with a fair amount of creative license. Playing a doctor on TV is not the same as actually being a doctor, obviously.
The newspaper business seems to be especially bad at explaining itself, and we have a language of “newspaper-ese” that’s almost as incomprehensible as the “Christian-ese” church folk speak. We understand what we’re saying, but we forget that no one else does.
At least twice this week I’ve explained the difference between an ad and an article. Ads are paid print space to promote a product, an event or an idea; articles tell a story about a person, place or thing. Sometimes the line between them is blurred. Ribbon cuttings for new businesses, for example, can be both, telling the story of a new business opening and alerting readers where and when they might purchase certain products or services.
Comedy thrives on jokes about how so-and-so doesn’t know squat because they don’t know what we know (or think we know). It makes us feel better when we think we know something someone else doesn’t know, which is childish. It’s far better to ask a “dumb” question than it is to assume something.
One of the benefits of journalism is that we walk into every interview aware that what we don’t know outweighs what we do know. It’s kind of nice. People expect us to ask questions (even when they don’t like what we’re asking, or don’t want to answer). Asking questions is how we gain knowledge. There’s no better way to make “inside knowledge” become “common knowledge” than to ask questions. And when questions are answered, understanding dawns, and with understanding comes increased empathy, kindness and compassion. And that makes for a better society for us all.
