The horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas was yet another reminder to all of us that there is something wrong in our country, and yet as horrific as this tragedy was, there are responses that maybe just as tragic. 

A prominent newspaper recently offered a response that might serve as such an example. One author in this newspaper wrote a piece that was highly critical of those who turn to faith in God in the aftermath of such tragedies. The author suggested that the Christian faith is to blame as it enslaved people to terrible laws in this country for centuries. A reminder that a few of these “terrible laws” actually allow this columnist the right to publish such statements at such an inappropriate time. 

One does not have to read too far into the story to discover the true intent of the article and the reason for the slander of the Christian faith when the author expresses concern that the Christian faith would be “a distraction” from gun control. The author speculated, offering no supportive or collaborating documentation, that the intent of conservatives was to push the conversation about these mass shooting away from gun control and towards God, which brings up a good question, is this really about guns?

Let me begin by saying that I do agree there are some needed changes in gun policies across the nation. That much is clear, but the issue is clouded by the politicizing of these tragedies. Each time a tragedy like this happens both sides re-energize their bases to either attack or protect the Second Amendment. The issue, for me, is not the gun, but something deeper. There is a hopelessness running rampant in our people … a hopelessness that produces despair, anger and rage. That hopelessness will not be solved by gun control or lack of gun control. 

These issues will not disappear until politics are put aside and real solutions are explored and it will take both sides to do this. Both sides must stop looking at every issue as a means to an end in regard to their own power. Continuing to politicize issues like these is disrespectful to the families affected by these senseless tragedies. The brazen political attacks mere hours after these tragedies reveal a little something about each side, if we are paying attention, and to be honest, both sides are banking on the fact that we are not paying attention. 

The issue has many facets to it with guns being one of those facets, but gun control will no more solve this issue than sofa control will solve the issue of obesity. There are other facets like hopelessness, escalation, anger, race, poverty and family that are as important if not more important, and yet no one is talking about any of those issues. Why not? Could it be that none of those issues will bring votes, power or money?

Comments on the News: 

This week Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that a Disinformation Governance Board had recently been created to combat online disinformation. 

Whether you lean left or right, this should alarm you if you care about freedom. Let’s start by addressing the timing of this announcement. I do not believe in coincidences so the timing of this happening immediately following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter makes the timing suspicious. There is no denying that Twitter was censoring expression prior to Musk’s purchase, and we do not know yet what Twitter will be like under Musk, but there is hope that expression will once again be free. 

When it comes to expression, there are only two choices; it is either free or it is not. It is a fallacy to suggest that freedom can be governed; it cannot. Governance is control according to a prescribed standard. What Twitter was doing prior to the Musk purchase was not freedom of expression but the control of information. If you want to control the distribution of information I do not have a fundamental problem with that if you present it as the control of information. 

Words do mean something and a case in point is the word “disinformation;” it is a poor choice if you ask me (I know, no one has asked me.). Defined, it is “false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization over a rival power or the media.” Semantics are important and the semantics of this word produce a few questions. Is there such a thing as false information in an age relativism? Who gets to decide intent? Can we truly discern intent? Propaganda, according to the semantics of the word disinformation, is that which is issued by the government over a rival power or the media, which presents a dilemma … is the government’s oversight of disinformation—as defined, an oversight of its own intention to misled in regard to information—possible? 

But again, I refer back to the idea of governing freedom. If you are governing freedom it is not freedom. You can protect freedom; you can protect those who are free; you can even protects the rights of freedom, but as soon as you start to govern freedom and decide what is freedom and what is not, there is no longer freedom. 

Failing to see that this Disinformation Governance Board(DGB) is a power grab means your ideology is currently in power, and that is fine. All is fair in love and war, but let’s avoid addressing the issue as one of freedom. It is clearly not an issue of freedom or even an issue of ideology; the issue is power and the desire for more of it. 

I would encourage us to read our history because we are on a very dangerous path and if we stay on it the future of our country, which includes its diversity, is at risk because diversity is the first thing to disappear when one ideology controls all others. Here is what we know about history if we read it. Those in power currently will not remain in power forever; they never do. History and culture operate like a pendulum; the more you push the pendulum one way the more it will swing back the other way, and it will always swing back the other way … eventually. The goal is for there to be a balance in life, but the more power one side accumulates the more that side wants things according to its ideology. This equates to pushing that pendulum, and again, just like a true pendulum, the more you push it one way the more it swings hard the other way, and it will eventually swing hard that way one day.

There is no way to come to a logical conclusion that the purpose of the DGB is to protect freedom of expression. It is clearly to protect the interest of an ideology so let’s avoid insulting the intelligence of the populace by presenting it as a means of protecting freedom of expression. It may be many things but it is definitely not that.

Pictures in the News

Have you ever noticed the kind of pictures used by those in the news? It is no coincidence that those pictures used in reference to anyone or anything representing an alternate view of the world than the one expressed by that particular news agency are often awkward and unflattering.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so the adage goes, and it appears that this old adage is actually true. 

Researchers at Michigan State University speculate that, “The part of the brain responsible for seeing is more powerful than previously believed.”

In a study in which they looked at which parts of the brain were active during a series of visual stimulations, they found that the visual cortex, responsible for vision imaging, has the same ability to make decisions as the brain’s “higher-level” decision-making areas.

Most previously thought that only the association cortex, known for higher-level functions, was responsible for decision making and that the visual cortex was only responsible for processing visual information. Recent studies are revealing that the visual cortex actually impacts decision making through visional interpretation. The research suggests that this part of the brain, once  thought to only be responsible for generating a picture in the mind, also has the ability to influence decision making. 

Another study found that photos of food were able to influence children in regard to their food choices. The study conducted by researchers at Iowa State University found that the salad consumption of children increased by as much as 90% when shown digital images of a salad or the vegetables in a salad. 

One study added a digital display of rotating images of salads to a cafeteria in a summer camp of children aged 6 -12. Once these rotating images were displayed, campers were more likely to choose lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots from a salad bar then they were before seeing the images. The researchers contributed the rise in vegetable choices by the campers to the images.

So, a picture is worth a thousand words and does drastically impact our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Placing an awkward or unflattering picture in a news story will greatly influence our perceptions of that news story. The news has never been just the news, but now we have a little more insight into why!

From time to time, we will issues comments here about stories found in the news. In these posts, we will present our view of the news and why we feel it is important to comment on the story referenced.

Here are a few unfortunate truths about the current state of the news. First, the news is not the news any longer. Each news network presents the news from their prescribed view of the world, and before you think that this some sinister plot to change the world, let’s agree that it is not. This is merely appealing to one’s base, which is the chosen worldview of the network, which makes sense. Second, because each news network has a base, each will always proactively seek to increase their base and each will do this because it is the base that makes each one sustainable. Third, the news is not neutral and never has been neutral. A news story has always been presented from a certain perspective of the world. In the past, we have enjoyed a more collective view of the world with many common points of agreement. Today, there are precious few points of agreement, which makes the news seem more bias than ever, but the reality is that it is pretty much the same as it has always been, with a few exception. Finally, the news has made one massive change that has greatly affected its accuracy and excellence. It is no longer about getting the story right as much as it is about getting the story out before everyone else gets the story out, which, as you might guess, affects accuracy and excellence.

Because of these four primary reasons, and a host of secondary ones, we will feel the need to make comments on the news from time to time. What will our comments be like? Our goal will be to determine whether the story is true, false or a combination of both. We will not comment on every story, but when we do comment we will always seek to present the truth of the issue in order for you to make sense of your world. Unfortunately, there has been an increase in stories that are not accurate and as long as networks get away with being inaccurate there will be an increase of misinformation, which, as you have already surmised, affects all of us.

We feel this part of who we are because we believe thinking matters!