The world has become divided into truth and non-truth. There are those among us who believe the means justify the end. We saw an example of that with “The Big Lie,” in which Joseph Goebbels conned a whole nation into believing things that were not true and they had to have their world blown apart around their ears to realize they had been lied to.
I hope we can be smarter than that, but when you see good people, intelligent people, believe things so patently untrue, It gives you pause. A recent article in “The Atlantic” portrayed President Donald Trump as deriding our armed forces. This is obviously untrue and the fact that the source remains anonymous tells you all you need to know about the veracity of the article. It is so absurd on its face that you have to question anyone who would believe it in the first place.
There are many among us who do not like President Trump, but to give up your common sense because of your dislike for an individual seems a poor trade-off. Plato said we must first know ourselves and that is so true. At what point do you surrender your principles for your bias? Are we to believe you had no principles to begin with?
There are so-called news outlets that broadcast nothing but propaganda 24/7. This, they offer in place of reporting the news. There are those things that are controversial that many sides report their opinions on them. In those cases. You have to resort to your education and common sense to sort out your truth. Time will tell the truth because you cannot subvert the truth forever.
Mortal combat has a purity to it that belies argument. If a strategy is false, it tends to be proven with the outcome. In the battle of Agincourt, the French outnumbered the English by a substantial amount and yet the English defeated the French to take the throne of France. The French had been beaten by the English longbow before, but chose not to learn.
This is a human trait and also a failing. When the truth stares you in the face, why do you chose to ignore it? The saying is, you ignore it at your own risk.
When you are confronted with seemingly intelligent people who believe things that are so obviously false, it is confounding. You are referred back to the statement that came out of World War ll, how could a cultured and educated people be deceived into believing such a lie?
History stands in sharp contrast to our present day. I know not many people know much history and that is a major failing in our society. History repeats itself since man is unable to come up with anything new. We have gadgets that can turn our brains into stupefied gelatin. We can kill at a rate unheard of in the past, but have we done anything to stop the downhill slide that our humanity has taken since the end of World War II?
Are our education systems any better? Have we made a dent in poverty? Do we have any solution to the homeless problem? Have all the Black politicians who followed Dr. Martin Luther King made a difference in the plight of poor Black children in Chicago? Nike and LeBron James are now incredibly wealthy and China plays on the greed of these same Americans to undermine our society. Is the mantra really, “I’ve got mine, the hell with the rest of you”?
There has to be more. There are some folks out there who want a better future for all Americans and there are those who seem to want to pull us down. Jonathan Kraut has written some things that I thought were worthwhile, but not most of it. He writes his bias and his spleen may feel better but it doesn’t raise the common good. Gary Horton (no relation) Is in left field and seems destined to stay there. Joshua Heath, what can you say, he doesn’t know any better.
I don’t know what to think about Joe Biden. His corruption is monumental and yet it is ignored by these same good people. If Biden were into their personal finances the way he has been with the finances of the U.S., there would be such a howl that the very mountains would cry out. He has been wrong on every decision he has ever made. Do the American people actually want a criminal like this as president? I know, you on the left will cry that Trump is much worse, but where are the facts? Facts that can be verified and not just supposition?
I may be one of the few people left who believe in truth, honor and pride. There are others, I know. We all must speak up and make our collective voices heard and put our sacred United States back on the right track and start looking out for all Americans and not just the greedy.
Jim Horton
Valencia
