I try to tie these posts to some aspect of the Senses Novels when I write them. In most cases, like the subject of this one, that isn’t difficult. The novels have their basis in our world today. To many, they seem somewhat predictive in nature as some of the things that I’ve written about have already happened. There isn’t anything mystical about it, I’m just looking ahead to the natural consequence of specific actions.
In the books, people are manipulated by what the news media tells them. When all you hear and see is what certain interest groups want, then you have no choice but to form your opinions based on that. While this has already been happening for a long time, it has accelerated in the last few years.
Let me ask you a couple of questions, do you care about the truth? Do facts matter to you? Or, is it that you don’t care and just want to be entertained? If you answered yes to the last question, stop reading, go do something else and know that you are one of the mindless sheep of this world. If you answered yes to the first two questions then I would say to you, do not accept what you are seeing and hearing from ANY news outlet at face value.
In the last week alone, I have seen two of the largest competing newsgroups ignore major stories that the other will run. Why? Because it fits a narrative, an agenda that they want you to accept. These agendas play to the emotions of those who are either extremely ‘progressive’ and hard ‘right-wing.’ I’m conservative in many of my views, I’ve never hidden that. I think that the difference is, I don’t close myself off to hearing what others think and feel.
I’m tired of news outlets attacking the President of the United States to the point where they have a segment of the population believing that he has committed some type of crime. If he has, I would think that the evidence of it would have shown itself by now. I’m also tired of the counter-media screaming that everything the other side has to say is ‘fake news.’ How do they know? Have they fact-checked everything? To be honest, I’m just tired of the constant bickering between the two. How about giving us facts without your opinions?
I’ve reached the point, and I think many of you have as well, that if ANY newsgroup is saying it, I automatically assume it is either a lie or a twisting of the facts. So, how do we get to the truth? How do we find out what the real news is? Unfortunately, it isn’t easy.
The only way that I’ve been able to discern what is really going on with any particular incident or news story is to take whatever is reported and work backward from it. Let’s take a recent example.
Some of you may have heard about the case of Alfie Evans, the toddler in England that was on life support. By all reports, Alfie had an irreversible degenerative brain condition, and the doctors in Britain’s National Health System made the decision, against the parent’s wishes, to remove Alfie from life support. Here is where stories diverge.
If we believe one side, allowing Alfie to die was a mercy. On the other hand, some are saying that it was murder to let the child, essentially, starve to death. What is the truth? I have a personal bias about allowing any child to die. My own belief is that no one should be making the decisions about my children for me. My opinions in this do not matter, what matters is the facts.
Alfie did have a degenerative brain condition. Doctors from other countries, countries that originally had said that they would be happy to treat him, confirmed that they could do nothing for Alfie. The British court system upheld the doctor’s decision about Alfie, that is following the rule of law. While we all believe that Alfie’s parents should have been the ones that made the decision, that is not how the legal system works in England. So, the facts:
· Alfie was essentially brain dead
· Doctor’s from at least two countries, including one that was willing to defy the British government, concluded that there was nothing that could be done for him
· Doctors made a decision that they should stop treating Alfie
· The decision was taken to court and upheld
We can put as much emotion into it as we want, but these are the facts, the facts that no media outlet reported without their own bias. Now, another question for you, while there is no doubt that Britain’s NHS is flawed in many ways, do you really believe that the decision was made lightly? These are doctors and nurses. Do you not think that they have children too and that their hearts weren’t breaking for the parents of Alfie? Someone reported that it was said that ‘it was no longer cost-effective to continue treatment.’ If that statement was indeed made, it had to be something that was only used in court. Here are two more facts for everyone about this case.
1. Alfie died last night. It wasn't a long, drawn-out starvation.
2. Alfie’s parents THANKED the hospital, the doctors, and nurses for their professionalism throughout this ordeal.
I would have fought for the life of my child. I would most likely have defied the courts and hired a group of mercenaries and stormed the hospital if I had to. That is because of the way we have been raised to think in this country. Many of us count our freedom as something sacred and will not allow a system to dictate the life and death of a loved one. That is not how it works elsewhere and, here it comes, that isn’t wrong, it’s just different.
My key point is, with all of the emotion and all the bias gone the facts can be examined, and your own opinion formed. You don’t have to follow and accept someone else’s narrative. Right or Left, I don’t care, their news is not the facts, it is an agenda meant to manipulate.
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