There was a
time, when, "if you read it in the (New York) Sun" or if you heard it from the
mouths of Huntley, Brinkley or Cronkite, then it was
so.
There was a time
when you could count on the integrity of the reporters and the veracity of the
news they were reporting.
Sadly, that time
is not now.
The Internet is
full of blogs, which anyone can create. You don't need a degree in journalism.
Integrity and veracity are not requirements. You don't have to prove you are
not an idiot. All you really need is that undocumented, very biased
opinion, a computer, and an Internet connection.
I do believe
that everyone ought to be able to express their opinion. However, that does not
mean that their opinions should in any event, be taken as Gospel. And while
expressing one's opinion is a government-bestowed right through the first
ammendment, you have to be careful not to overstep a God-given commandment when
you do so.
What people
should not be allowed to do, is lie.
Of course they
do lie, and they have always lied and were it not so, there would be no need for
those wise old chestnuts like, "caveat emptor" – let the buyer beware. I just
wish we would all take that principle to heart and take as much care about
"buying" someone's words as truthful as we do buying a dishwasher—or a
computer.
There were
several instances in the last year when blog opinions, or outright lies were
repeated as factual stories. They were repeated as such on national news
networks as part of their election cycle coverage, until finally there were
hundreds if not thousands of people swearing the stories reported were
true.
Who do we blame
for this profanity [for surely that's what it is]? The opinionated or biased
ones who vent their opinions and tell their lies? The media, who repeat these
opinions and lies as if they are fact? Or the end user, the reader, the
viewer or listener who seems in this day and age strangely willing to believe,
well, pig swill?
Why do we lately
seem so willing to believe the words we find on the Internet, or inn the news
without benefit of thought? They say that "trust" is at an all time low. You've
heard others say, "you can't trust anyone anymore", parents warn their children,
"you can't trust strangers!"But apparently there is no distrust when it comes to
outrageous opinions, lies and inflammatory stories written or reported on
line.
It bothers me
that a piece written on a blog as either opinion, or as an obvious attempt at
sarcasm can be repeated by a television news station as "fact" without that
station even bothering to verify the piece. It bothers me when people are
willing to believe the most ludicrous things, because it suits their need to
vent, or to hate, or to smear.
It bothers me
that many of those same people proclaim in loud and boasting voices that
they believe in God, and then act in decidedly ungodly
ways.
I don't like
liars or cheaters, but somehow, in today's world, it seems the liars and the
cheaters are the only ones thriving, the only ones getting ahead, and the only
ones being believed.
Yes, I do
believe that the truly righteous will receive their reward in Heaven. But I also
know that they should be receiving a bit more of the goodies here on earth,
too.
And they
probably would be—if there weren't an overabundance of liars, cheaters and
idiots gobbling them all up.
Love,
Morgan
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