Monday, May 25, 2009

I wish, more than anything, more than life.....



So.

How you been?

I'm good. But I'm rebelling against late night news programs. I'm currently watching infomercials. There's something called an AbCoaster that looks like something the Spanish Inquisition invented.

No pain, no problem. That's my motto.

I wonder about the guarantees that are given to these many and various late night gizmos and systems and whatnot. I'm not sure how somebody in good conscience can say "you can lose three inches before nightfall" and get away with it.

Recently, I understand that the FDA has told the Post Company that if they insist on claiming that Cheerios can lower cholesterol, then they need to be re-labeled as a drug, and must go through rigorous tests.

Perhaps the government should look into other things, and let Cheerios be Cheerios.

And perhaps people should read labels, and make up their own minds.

But a little knowledge of on the part of the cereal eater would probably help.

This is the issue: Too often in the early days of this century, we have fallen prey to the worst kind of ignorance; and that ignorance is never more visible than when we as a society begin to believe anything people "of authority" tell us.

Examples such as, "Obama is a Muslim", or "Torture is necessary", or "There is indisputable proof of weapons blah blah", or something as simple as the word, "pandemic" is enough to change the entire direction of country.

"Socialism" is another one of those words.

And the problem is there are too many people believing sight-unseen, and not enough actually looking behind the curtain.

This has happened before, my friends. Many times. If you tell a lie large enough, or if you fill the cracks around the truth with enough falsehood, and you keep telling it, soon it will be seen as the truth. And it takes years, decades, CENTURIES to undo.

If ever.

So, a little primer: movies that are based upon a true story only means that once upon a time there were people who had these names and that's about it.

Chocolate flavored means that there is no freakin' chocolate.

The President is NOT a Muslim.

If a thousand people do a stupid thing, IT'S STILL A STUPID THING TO DO.

Like every good journalist, you need to find corroboration in your story. You need MULTIPLE sources.

Let's see if we can't take a step in the right direction. Let's see if we can actually look at the info and make up our minds.

Rock beats scissors.
Paper beats rock.
Scissors beat paper.

Knowledge beats fear.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Rock
Paper
Scissors
Waffle
Cockroach

Gertrude said...

That should be in the NYT on the front page. Great post Clemo. Wise and Wonderful.