Truth and Lies

Why oh why is our media so set on spreading lies, half-truths, or omitting the facts all together? I get so frustrated when I attempt to watch any news, even the weather.  Who, in their right mind, stands outside, in a downpour, lightning flashing, in knee deep water, with winds howling, and debris flying, to tell us that there is a tropical storm/hurricane coming? Duh!  It does not impress me.  As a matter of fact, it makes them look down-right idiotic to me.  Yes, I said it. They are supposed to be telling us what we need to do, where we need to go, how we are supposed to protect ourselves, all the while, they are doing the exact opposite.  It’s all about the drama.  So, I turn off the TV, pull up my weather app to look at the radar and go on about my business.  I have enough drama in my life as it is. 

Likewise, the media people throw out statistics like candy at a parade, without ever giving the parameters of the statistics.  I attempted to teach this concept to an 8th grade Gifted and Talented class one time.  I informed them that 100% of the men in my family drove trucks.  There was an immediate response of, “Wow! You must have a bunch of men in your family.”  I proceeded to list the men in my family which numbered 10 at the time.  “Dang, Mrs. Adkins.  That’s not many.  We thought you said 100?” “No, I said 100 percent.  Did I lie to you?”  I told the absolute truth but their minds went in a different direction.  The media uses these same tactics to send our minds in a different direction all the time.

Well, I have a confession and a perfect example for the purpose of this post.  Before I started this story, I came across the following quote.  "This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.  A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And, such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want." - Hannah Arendt

(14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) German historian and philosopher.  I wish I had written this.

But God!  Don’t you just love it when you can say that?  But God has already laid out the truth for us. We have to first read God’s words and truths in order to have the basis for our own thinking.  We call this a biblical view.  When you learn to recognize THE TRUTH, when you see it with a biblical view, when you hear it with a biblical view, and when you read it with a biblical view, then you have taken a great leap toward knowing The Truth, what-ever the medium.  Look a little beyond what hits your eyes first and listen carefully at their words. You will hear, “could, should, might, possibly, could have, potentially, maybe, nearly, almost, perhaps, or a combination of any of these, giving themselves an out.  Therefore, the media are keeping themselves from fully telling a lie.  

Now for the rest of the story: When I went to check my facts on the quote at https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/on-fake-hannah-arendt-quotations-2024-08-04 I discovered that the quote from above is a fake!  The essence of the quote appears to follow with the philosophy of Ms. Arendt but, according to a website created for her works, it has been falsely created. Well, go figure.  My daddy always said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Supposedly this is a quote from Alexander Hamilton, not just my daddy. They were both right. Guess Aaron Tippin was in on it too.  Not a Biblical song but it has this same quote. https://youtu.be/nmUSDDc5lAs?si=7lXGXG_93ERWcljw  so I added just for fun. Hopefully, when you stand for "something" what you stand for is God’s word and the biblical foundation that built this country. John 14:6 says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  

Lord, show us the truth. Sheild our eyes and our ears from false teachings. Open our hearts that we may KNOW you and the truth that you are. Amen