~Disheartening State of Affairs~
By JC1969
@JC1969 (1224)
United States
February 28, 2007 1:56am CST
I’ve become really disheartened the last few days. For quite some time I have observed the division in our country and it has concerned me. It is not so much the division, but more the way the gap has been formed through anger and bitterness (doesn’t matter your political affiliation either, because both sides are guilty). Now, I completely understand being passionate about one’s visions, beliefs, ideals, and even opinions. But, I remember a time when people could enjoy those aspects about each other and a discussion between differing views was enlightening and stimulating.
I guess my reflective mood comes from a discussion I tried to take part in on here. This discussion was created with a lie. In fact, I probably could have reported the discussion thread, as it was a basic copy and paste from an email chain letter that can be found on numerous websites, and has been passed around for years now. But, I didn’t report it, and instead I took issue with the fact that the person was spreading a rumor and I gave evidence and links showing how the rumor is a false rumor.
Unfortunately, it fell upon deaf ears and the momentum of the numerous responses carried a sad feel that no one cared that the original discussion was an out right lie, just as long as it bashed the political figure they were bashing. I find this extremely sad and a real concern when we see members of our nation not caring about truth versus ammunition to fuel their hatred for someone.
I was personally attacked even though my view on this person is not “Pro” by any means, but I can’t sit by and allow someone to spread untruths in an effort to look credible. Yet, not one person that responded in this thread wanted to talk about the fact that the original discussion was created based on a lie—an email lie. I stayed on topic and addressed the original discussion text, while everyone else used it to mount his or her personal bashings upon, despite the fact that the original text is a lie and has been proven untrue.
My opinion is that we are indeed entitled to our views and opinions, but when someone points out that something someone says is not true and it has been proven, I believe the person should be mature enough to own up to the error they made. Now, that doesn’t mean they change their opinion with respect to loathing or dissatisfaction they have with respect to a situation or a person. It just means that they own up to making a mistake with the information they used to deliver their message—mistakes happen.
In journalism, when error or wrong information is delivered to the public, they give a statement of apology, they recant the statements made, and they make the corrections necessary to set the matter straight. Sure, we are not all journalists, but here in this forum we are writing, we are delivering information—should we not feel a responsibility to own up to wrong information we may deliver? Should we not respect someone that points out the error that was made or should we bash him or her? Have we Americans gotten to the point where truth doesn’t matter as long as what is said fuels our opinion and views?
5 people like this
5 responses
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
28 Feb 07
Well, you do realize that in our country, our media is pretty much all to the left...very liberal. And when people hear enough of something and read enough of something, it begins to sound like truth. Most people don't take the time to investigate things they see and hear before taking it as truth. And when it comes to politics, many people just go on their feelings and opinions...whether or not the opinions have any basis in facts or not. It is scary to me that the majority of the country gets all of their information from the 3 main network tv stations...all of which are pretty liberal in their views, and they believe everything that they hear.
3 people like this
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
28 Feb 07
I wish I could agree with you about the media being liberal. When Clinton was in office they hounded, scrutinized and picked apart at every little thing him, and any of his family members were part of.
Today, you don't hear them scrutinizing this President or his administration in that same manner. If you did then you would see them addressing issues like, why are key members in this present administration members of an organization that had pretty much mapped out what we are seeing unfolding in the middle-east way before they came into power in the White House. I'm talking about PNAC.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
You just don't hear about it. I do feel the news today does not do a responsible job at keeping the American population informed and that the American people need to search out the information and look for quality evidence to support their claims and not just go with the fever of the moment. When you choose to start a debate with misinformation that can easily be disproven--then you lose the debate, but that's how it use to be. Today, you have more people that will go on the defense and still claim their information is truth, it's mind boggling. I guess I have a different kind of ethics.
We are a military family based overseas, and it is a constant issue being discussed in our newspaper, in regards to tainted and biased news. It irks alot that the civilian population does not get the information delivered to them the way it should be--and then on the flip side we are exposed to biased reporting here--we get alot of 'Hooray for Bush' type of news on our TV--which is why we are thankful to the "Stars and Stripes" which gives us a more fair and balanced media source.
1 person likes this
@Idlewild (6090)
• United States
28 Feb 07
I disagree with estherlou. I think these days people*don't* get the majority of their news from the 3 main networks; more than 3/4 of U.S. households have cable TV, and most of them have Internet access too. Fox News gets more viewers than CNN, and I don't think anyone can complain there's liberal bias there. If a person is conservative, they're going to think that anything to the left of Fox is 'liberal.'
Clinton did get a lot of heat from the press; the media did not love him as some people seem to think. Bush pretty much got a free pass from the media in the leadup to the Iraq war., there wasn't much questioning of it for fear of appearing 'unpatriotic.'
I find most of the political discussion here on Mylot frustrating; people hear one sensational headline from a dubious source and then start a discussion as if it were fact. If they bothered to read the entire news story beyond the headline, they'd realize the situation is often not what it appears.
I try to avoid politics on Mylot; it's not worth it to try to do research and come up with a clear, logical answer, and get a penny in return.
1 person likes this
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
28 Feb 07
Idlewild,
I generally try to stay away from deep political discussions on here for the same reason as you. I will address discussion on our troops and military issues though because I've been a military dependent for so long I just might have some tid-bits to add.
The only reason I stopped and responded to this particular discussion was because I received this exact text in an email years ago, and I had already done a snopes.com check on it and it was false then and false now. The person started a discussion with the exact text of this email and I addressed the fact that it was false by giving the snopes link containing the facts as well as another credible link about the email misinformation. The discussion creator has still yet to address that--and the whole discussion opened a bashing session about the political figure, and not one person really cared about the fact that the discussion text was untrue--it just didn't seem to matter. There are a couple who have now come out to address the fact that this person started the discussion with an old rumor, but it won't do any good the discussion owner is convinced we are all crazy and we are the liars.
You are right it's not worth the headache.
@gardengrrl (1445)
• United States
1 Mar 07
Hey, JC!
I was watching that post as it evolved, I'm sure you saw my comments. That was about the third post I read after joining myLot, and it made me seriously rethink participating here. Who needs another discussion board full of ignorance and insult? I felt really badly for you as I read, because you were so clearly trying to refrain from dropping to their level, but were obviously deeply frustrated. You have a perspective that is genuinely different from most of us, and I learned from what you wrote. Too bad for them, they must already know everything if they don't need to listen to other's thoughts. (DOUBT IT!)
Lucky for me, I started a provocative thread and had a great experience hammering back and forth with Destiny007 in it. Although we indulged in a bit of sarcasm, and apparently agree on very little, I don't feel personally attacked by D-007, and I hope he/she doesn't feel that I have insulted him/her. (Gotta look at folk's profiles more, I know.) I even had to swallow my pride a bit and admit I could be better informed on some of the points made by D-007. I would hope some people come here to learn as well as earn. If the day ever comes that I won't open my mind to another point of view, I hope I crawl off into a cave and disappear.
Anyway, I saw this thread last night, but I was too tired to do it justice. I wanted to let you know you were very dignified and restrained under duress, and you make your points very well. Don't let the buttheads get you down. We need to hear from people closely associated with our troops. One of my greatest fears is that our soldiers will interpret my opposition to the Iraqi adventure as disrespect or lack of support. Far from it - it is precisely because I admire, respect and care for our troops that I'm fighting to stop the shedding of their blood for nothing. Take care! Peace.
1 person likes this
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
8 Mar 07
Hey gardengrrl,
Yep, I read your responses on that thread. It was just mind boggling that I wasn't there disputing their opinions with regard to Hillary Clinton, but rather I was disputing the information the person tried to pass off as 'fact and truth'. Makes you wonder what these people were like in high school--you know when a good piece of gossip went through the rumor mill did they pass it along just because everyone else did even though they may have known the rumor was false, but it was okay cause they didn't like the person.
@wmg2006 (5381)
• United States
28 Feb 07
I think people here in MyLot does not respect much more than their own opinion whether it be from a truth or a lie. This is the place they come to discuss whatever the topic is, they do not care about fact so much as giving their opinion about a certain matter. The bashing of the messenger is uncalled for but it will happen from time to time. You have a BIG diversity of people here and you will a BIG diversity of answers to anything you post here. Don't take it personally, just keep on posting your views and have your say, but never try to argue or change the mind of others here. Some people are just looking for a fight to be heard. What was the discussion I would like to visit it and see what I really think about the way it was handled.
1 person likes this
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
28 Feb 07
I believe you already found the discussion in question as I think I saw your response there a few minutes ago. You'll find she will almost definitely come back to tell you to get your facts straight and that you don't know what you are talking about if you haven't joined in on her bashing session in support of her cause despite the false rumor she delivered in upon. Also, be careful because if you don't agree with her and the others that are on her side in the thread, you will notice your quality rating going down because you will receive lots of (-)ratings.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
1 Mar 07
this is well writting and I would like to know what discussion it was.
I always like the truth but sometimes I beleive we have been lied to so much that one takes every thing at face value and dont look for more info on the lie .Which we should .
I know I posted about some lipsticks had lead in it I was told it was a lie so I looked and found o nthe last line that it proyained to out of country lipsticks that had not got FDA approval and one other person did more looking for info that showed that lead was in certain lipstick . So it goes to show I will look more closely next time at a subject before I post it. thanks for this post
1 person likes this
@MrCoolantSpray (1005)
• United States
28 Feb 07
The media didn't pick apart every little thing Clinton did, if I remember correctly. A lot of his scandals got overlooked because every time he felt the heat of the press, he sent smart bombs to the middle east. There was a lot of misdirection while he was in office. With Bush, he does a lot of good, but none of that gets reported. It seems that every time he does something right, the media sticks its fingers in its ears and starts humming real loud to itself. They don't want to know that Bush is actually a strong, good president. They just want to smear him anyway possible.
People don't want to think for themselves, and that's why they believe the media's lies. It takes too much work to rationalize and think critically about different news sources, various biases, and outright falsehoods. Critical thinking is not taught in schools in America. Used to be, public schools' mission statements boiled down to: "We want to teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think." Now it's the opposite.
1 person likes this
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
28 Feb 07
The media did cover all of Clinton's scandals and what the media didn't do the comedians helped keep it visible and alive LOL. If you care to show me some good that Bush has done, I'd be interested in reading it, I really do need to see something good that he has done, and at this point I haven't but always willing to give it a shot at learning something good that he has done.
You maybe right about the critical thinking and ability to rationalize, and I believe that comes from both sides of the issues, politically anyway. I've heard Democrats spew falsehoods, I've heard Republicans spew falsehoods, and I've equally taken issue with them in my encounters. My thing is, if you have an opinion and a dislike for a situation or a political figure stick to the reasoning behind it. Because when you try to weight your position down with something like an email email rumor or such, and it is false, you basically lose footage on your position. I don't take issue with anyones opinion I welcome the enlightment, but if you state something that can easily be disproven I will show the evidence.
My kids have been in some pretty good schools (minus the one in Arizona) and are now in DODea schools and they are pretty good at teaching and unbias teaching at that.
Thanks for leaving your comment and adding to the discussion.
