Information a la Carte
2-Nov-12
As we emerge from the information age, the amount of information in existence grows at an astonishing rate. One study indicates info in the world doubles every 11 minutes. And certainly we’re bombarded with information at every turn. But what kind of information is this? Part of the great irony is that we have more information than ever, but much of it is useless. Even more frustrating is when such information hides or prevents important information from reaching us. We simply cannot process it all to sort out the good from the bad and truth from falsehood.
It doesn’t help that our culture has lost hold of the idea of absolute truth. That is, one’s understanding of what’s real is based simply on their own perspective (relativism) instead of what is actually true. But when you can’t define what’s true, it makes it difficult to discern what’s false. Another aspect of disregarding absolute truth is that one can justify twisting things to make them sound like anything they wish. This used to be called lying. |
The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone? – Eccl 6.11 ...Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. – Eccl 12.12 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. – Dan 12.4 |
All this is well exhibited in politics and especially in campaigns. Campaign mud-slinging involves ruthless character assassination, capitalizing on sound bites carelessly ripped out of meaningful context. In debates, one candidate says something; the other says “That’s not true”. Then there’s the so-called “fact checks”. But depending on who’s checking the facts, details are selectively arranged and presented in a way suitable to promote a biased view –aka spinning. For instance, MSNBC is liberal and will portray the same political issue in a completely different way compared to conservative Fox News.
However, to some degree it is still important to point out inconsistencies, truth twisting and other political offenses. These important offices should be held by honorable statesmen who are held accountable when they are anything less. So in view of the forthcoming election, I have some misgivings regarding our current President’s honesty and feel it’s important to make them known …in context.
For example, when promoting Obamacare, the President and top officials adamantly and awkwardly denied that the individual mandate would result in a tax. Yet, after 26 states sued over the law, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld the individual mandate because they defined its penalty as a tax. Also during its promotion, we were told the bill’s language didn’t include anything about abortion. Yet, numerous entities are suing the government over the Health and Human Services’ mandate in conjunction with Obamacare which requires employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion drugs.
Similarly, in a recent debate President Obama defended federal funding of Planned Parenthood, boasting how it’s allegedly crucial to women’s health and they “rely on it for mammograms”. In reality, PP doesn’t even perform mammograms, but only does referrals. Truthfully, the Democratic platform has recently adjusted their language from abortion being “safe, legal and rare” to being safe, legal and government subsidized. Thus the reason millions of tax dollars go to the nation’s largest abortion provider under the façade of women’s health instead of going to legitimate organizations.
In another debate, the President stated that the day after the 9/11 attack on the Libyan consulate he referred to it as an “act of terror”. He was even affirmed by moderator Candy Crowley of CNN. Later, it was revealed that this was a very generalized comment not specifically aimed at the attack. In actuality, the administration went out of its way for weeks to call it a “spontaneous reaction” to a video, but never a terrorist attack. Concerning details of the attack continue to come out.
Or, should we believe President Obama truly supports Israel when he made disparaging comments about Israeli PM Netanyahu to French President Sarkozy when a mic was accidentally on? Should we really believe this administration has done anything favorable for gas prices or fossil fuels when they invested billions in competing green energy? These are important issues and it seems we’ve been intentionally misled. I increasingly believe Joe Wilson was telling the truth.
Somehow we’ve come to expect such conduct of our politicians, but why do we keep electing this sort –especially if they have a record we can verify? Are we unaware of the facts because we only tune into stations that spin the news the way we like? Are we inundated with so much information that we can’t be bothered to verify what we hear? There are many important offices up for grabs. And the Presidency is certainly an important position having influence not only as an executive office, but also as a role model. The time has come for change.
However, to some degree it is still important to point out inconsistencies, truth twisting and other political offenses. These important offices should be held by honorable statesmen who are held accountable when they are anything less. So in view of the forthcoming election, I have some misgivings regarding our current President’s honesty and feel it’s important to make them known …in context.
For example, when promoting Obamacare, the President and top officials adamantly and awkwardly denied that the individual mandate would result in a tax. Yet, after 26 states sued over the law, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld the individual mandate because they defined its penalty as a tax. Also during its promotion, we were told the bill’s language didn’t include anything about abortion. Yet, numerous entities are suing the government over the Health and Human Services’ mandate in conjunction with Obamacare which requires employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion drugs.
Similarly, in a recent debate President Obama defended federal funding of Planned Parenthood, boasting how it’s allegedly crucial to women’s health and they “rely on it for mammograms”. In reality, PP doesn’t even perform mammograms, but only does referrals. Truthfully, the Democratic platform has recently adjusted their language from abortion being “safe, legal and rare” to being safe, legal and government subsidized. Thus the reason millions of tax dollars go to the nation’s largest abortion provider under the façade of women’s health instead of going to legitimate organizations.
In another debate, the President stated that the day after the 9/11 attack on the Libyan consulate he referred to it as an “act of terror”. He was even affirmed by moderator Candy Crowley of CNN. Later, it was revealed that this was a very generalized comment not specifically aimed at the attack. In actuality, the administration went out of its way for weeks to call it a “spontaneous reaction” to a video, but never a terrorist attack. Concerning details of the attack continue to come out.
Or, should we believe President Obama truly supports Israel when he made disparaging comments about Israeli PM Netanyahu to French President Sarkozy when a mic was accidentally on? Should we really believe this administration has done anything favorable for gas prices or fossil fuels when they invested billions in competing green energy? These are important issues and it seems we’ve been intentionally misled. I increasingly believe Joe Wilson was telling the truth.
Somehow we’ve come to expect such conduct of our politicians, but why do we keep electing this sort –especially if they have a record we can verify? Are we unaware of the facts because we only tune into stations that spin the news the way we like? Are we inundated with so much information that we can’t be bothered to verify what we hear? There are many important offices up for grabs. And the Presidency is certainly an important position having influence not only as an executive office, but also as a role model. The time has come for change.
The
simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps. –
Pr 14.15
The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other,
but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time. – Dan 11.27
The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other,
but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time. – Dan 11.27