Gimmie Some Truth

13 January 2021

 

How do we come to a common set of facts?  How do we and our fellow citizens become critical consumers of information?  How do we move the vast majority of people in our internet consuming country to understand that simply because something is printed on an electronic page, or on 100,000 electronic pages doesn’t mean that what is set forth there is an actual objective truth?

 

Lies spread like wildfire, always have. 

 

I lived in Wilmington, DE for several years in the early 1980s in a townhouse on Van Buren Street.  Lovely apartment, lovely neighborhood.  Read the Philadelphia Inquirer each day and watched Philly TV news over dinner.  Back in those pre-internet days there was a local broadcaster by the name of Jerry Penacoli. Back before the internet and back before gossip shows had gotten totally tawdry, a vile untruth had spread about his reporter.  The evil tale was spread by word of mouth and probably by mimeograph art. BUT IT WASN’T TRUE!  And despite it not being true it screwed with Penacoli’s life and his career for a time. But the sordidness spread like wildfire and everyone had heard it and most had a joke about it.

 

One newspaper person, a guy who I believe was named Clark Terry of the Inquirer, came out fighting with 10 column inches above the fold on the second section of the paper disputing the vile and pernicious lie. He called people out for spreading such trash. Because newspapers in those had weight, had gravitas, the truth telling of this reporter seemed to quell some of the worst components of the lie.  Even local DJs chimed in, and these were edgy folks back in the day, to intone what was being said was just wrong. Back then you had three basic sources of information for news, radio, TV and the papers.  And when you got agreement between them it had an impact in quelling misinformation, such as tales about Jerry and a cocaine-soaked gerbil.

 

But now old media is sick and dying.  Who even subscribes to a paper anymore?  TV news is an afterthought for most of us. 40 years ago, the 6:30 national news programs were appointment viewing. Now a majority of people get their information online, and there are (and this is a technical term) a gazillion sources for information.  The problem is nobody having paid big dollars for their combined phone, internet and TV packages wants to pay again to see curated news from the Post, Times or Journal behind a paywall. As a result, the sources people opt for run the spectrum of quality and of political bent. So much of what is out there is warped, truly warped. The problem is that this warped crap is wrapped up in pretty fonts with bright pictures and bylines from people who seem to be credentialed. Just because John Doe, PhD., (of the Mail Order University of Quivering Sassafras) says so does not establish as truth that Cabals of adrenochrome using Democratic pedophiles exist.  So just go screw yourself Q and screw your coming storm. And Trump is not and never will be the messiah saving us from this nonsense.

 

We need to approach our information sources with a critical eye and TRUTH SHOULD NOT BE HIDDEN BEHIND A PAYWALL!!!! Lies, pre the internet, would spread like wildfire if they were tawdry and salacious enough.  But it could be dealt with. Now in our internet era we have thousands of thousands of sites spreading absolute BS all packaged to make it look real and promoted by cynical people for profit or power. And it is out there on both the right and the left, the liberal and conservative sides. And it is raging like the California wildfires so what do we do?

 

I took lots of constitutional law in school from the history of constitution in my undergraduate days to Con Law 1,2,3 and a senior seminar in Con Law in law school.  I have always been against prior restraints on speech, but with the sheer volume, intensity, frequency of misinformation calling for dangerous action out there on the interwebs, I am not so sure now. In days of yore the period of time for people to call out misinformation in newspaper or on TV was longer and allowed for considered responses.  And there was an obligation to present rebuttals.  But that time frame is compressed to nanoseconds now and there is no obligation to allow rebuttals on the same platform. This is a different world.

 

Me, I don’t know how we fix it.  However, I know we must fix it.  If we don’t what happened at the Capitol last week will be just the start of violent internet fueled attacks on our democracy.  I do know however that I am FB friends with lawyers, copywriters, advertising mavens, specialists in information science, reporters, judges and professors of varied and diverse disciplines.  Anyone got any ideas? Anyone got any links to good ideas on how we move forward from here?  Feel free to post them.

 

 

 

The Ugly Sound of Silence

12 January 2021

Six days have passed, the siege of the Capitol seems like a lifetime ago. However, a mere six days can never be far enough in the past to remove the insurrection’s stain from America’s tradition of democratic process. The peaceful transition of power, one of the greatest hallmarks of our political culture, is no more. Last week in the hands of men and women wearing military garb holding zip ties, that tradition was shattered.

Every disembodied voice on the news radio and every talking head on the television has taken to pulling at one of the many threads of this blanket of ugliness. Were the Capitol police, or some of those police, in on it? Was this planned out by a sinister group or groups with a much darker agenda? Were members of congress in on it? Why were the insurrectionists allowed to leave the site of the violence? Is this just another demonstration of the real racism that underpins the USA? There is so much sound and fury, so much noise from every corner.

But one.

Where is the chorus of Republican voices clearly, forcefully and prominently decrying this evil? With few exceptions they are nowhere to be found. Sasse, Toomey, Murkowski from the Senate and Meijer and Kinzinger from the house they are clearly expressing rage. But from the rest of the red mob…. the sound of crickets in an empty evening is the only thing heard.

These elected officials took an oath to protect and preserve the Constitution. That vow could be more appropriately expressed as one promising to uphold the law of the land for all the citizens of this country and not just for those in Republican leaning red states. There is no addendum saying a Senator or a Representative can make a waffling gesture with their hand after that recitation and mumble, “except for false fact believing violent thugs who together with their friends, families and Twitter followers make up my base.”

From Representative McCarthy to Senators Cruz and Hawley there should be coming statements that say expressly in loud, outraged and indignant tones, “What happened last week was a clear and unequivocal attack on our democracy. The perpetrators were evil. People died and a part of Constitutional heritage was bloodied. These people should be punished to the full extent of the law and stripped of the privileges and benefits accorded to those who have chosen to live under the laws of this land. All persons who planned, executed, aided, abetted, or fomented this insurrection should be harshly punished no matter who they are or what social standing they possessed before their seditious acts were carried out.”

Will we hear this from the silent members of our Congress? I don’t think so. For them somewhere along the line the focus has shifted from doing the people’s will to the raw and ugly calculus of how they will continue holding power for benefit of themselves and their patrons, the rich and entitled. I shake my head and there is a disquieted pressure in my chest. We no longer have statespeople leading us and it is a damn shame. Maybe we will see a change in the next day but I doubt it. Almost a full week has gone by a person smart enough to get elected to Congress has had ample time to work a clear and unequivocal statement of rage at this violation of our nation’s integrity.

A Need for Common Confession

10 January 2021

 For the vast majority of my life, I have been a Lutheran.  Started out as a Baptist but that went sideways. For many years at this time on a Sunday morning I would be putting on a clean shirt and combing my hair before I walked the fifteen minutes to the church. Thanks to Covid-19 I have not attended in 10 months.  

 

One of the things I like about the Lutheran services is the common confession.  I view standing with 200 people and reading a printed prayer in unison as a clearing out of all the groady stuff that had accumulated in my soul over the previous week.  On Sunday mornings in the before times I would bow my head with eyes closed and then I would ask the Divine to forgive me for things I had done and left undone, for things that I had said and left unsaid for needs I had not acted to remedy or that I had turned my eyes away from.  I would intone that I was mightily sorry for these things.  At the end the pastor would raise his hand and say that through God’s mercy I was forgiven. When those words left his mouth I felt free and unchained of angst and guilt.

 

After this week I wish I felt that I could safely attend church but I don’t.  But if ever there was a time when an appellation to the Divine for forgiveness by a group speaking in unison, this week would be it. I need forgiveness for the hatred I have felt for those who stormed the Capitol and for the people who urged them on.  I believe, although I don’t think they would see it that way, that the demagogue and his adherents need forgiveness for their misanthropic and racist acts of violence against our nation and against the people who died. 

 

On this cold midwestern morning that I inhabit, it is hard for me to see how we make our way back to a point of relatively respectful debate about our beliefs as to what America is and what America is not. About what America can be and what America should be. The attack on the Capitol has torn the curtain in our temple and in many ways, there will only be the time before the insurrection and the time after that event when we speak of our nation’s history. There will a dividing line of our history before and our experiences after 2020 and the first week of 2021 tied both to Covid and to the end of the Trump presidency.

 

I wish we as a people could walk into a congregation somewhere and say words such as those set out above. I wish a Divinity could give us a reset to a fresh and clean start.  But we can’t and the Holy won’t. We are stuck here in the mess we are in.  All we can do is focus on justice, compassion and understanding, tempered by a strength in our beliefs in equality and dignity.  We must move forward disavowing the hatred that allowed the events of this week to occur. We must work to better our world while resisting the temptation toward the simplistic and easy answers that hatred, racism and xenophobia seem to offer.

 

 

The Day Before

  

5 January 2021

 

How exciting is my life you say?  Well, it is just fun filled and action packed.  

 

Today I made breakfast for three.  I have brewed decaf and regular coffee for the household.  I downloaded all my bank and credit card statements for the past year onto my computer.  As a result of gathering that information I reviewed my spending for the past year.  Food and utilities both were the biggest ticket items coming in at about $10,000 each.  The food was actually about $7,500 for the year but there were a couple of big bills incurred before the pandemic started for our retirement parties. Had to pick up the tab for snackies for the people who came to say goodbye. The utilities included phones for four people and internet and streaming services.

 

East Lansing had a dusting of snow this morning.  I will check about 11:30 AM and if there is any that hasn’t melted, I will go and sweep it off.  Probably will do some laundry today also.  

 

I should set about these tasks.  You see I am already distracted. My concentration has been broken for you see the cat is sitting on my desk meowing for some attention. Liberal petting will be applied.

 

Tomorrow I have an eye appointment. At that time my eyes will be dilated and examined. As I may have said before don’t grow too old. In the old days my iteration of that was drive fast and live a good-looking corpse.  As the years pass the latter part becomes impossible.  Well, so does the first part.

 

The desk I write at is a big old heavy oak thing.  When new it belonged to the chief medical officer for Sparrow hospital.  In the late 1950s/early 1960s this desk would have been considered very fashionable with a two-inch think desktop writing surface and stylized rounded corners everywhere. The desk moved from the doctor’s office to his daughter’s home after he retired and decluttered. Got the desk for free when the daughter retired and moved to Florida.  The daughter was my old boss.  

 

Anyway, there is a plate of glass atop the desk.  Under it are a ton of pictures of my boys and of places we have visited.  Lots of photos of British Columbia and Alberta.  There are also two fortunes from Chinese meals over the years.  The first reads, “Your actions reveal more about you than you realize.”  The second, “Things are not always what they seem.  It is not that bad.”  I think the second one is apt for these pandemic times. Things will get better and turn around soon.  The first is one I oft try and think on.

 

What do my actions say about me?  Hmmh?  I will leave others to decide the ultimate answer. I will try and craft my actions to garner some warmth and love from those I interact with.

 

Oh yeah.  Do I think tomorrow will be ugly in DC?  Yup. Ugliness will rule inside the chambers of the House and Senate. Ugliness will rule in the streets with the pro-Trump supporters. Do I think it will make any difference in the outcome of the election?  I am in 60/40 camp with 60 being the answer of no. Truly, it boggles my mind the number is that high. Do I think this represents a point as low as the Nixon years?  Yes.  I think it is worse. 

 

Am I nervous?  Yes.  What happens in the next 48 hours could have a real impact on the health of our democratic process. A real attempt by the Republicans to undermine the integrity of the election will leave a stain on the legitimacy of our elected institutions.  Serious and significant violence will reverberate for years causing the divisions fostered to date to become more intransigent.