Pump up the volume…

So I’ve been reading the news bites here and there for a few days, trying to think of what to write about next. Oddly enough, it was a short phone conversation with my mom this morning that cemented an idea in my head. (Again this is a popular or at least a ‘well known’ idea, but I just felt the need to weigh in with my own slanted view on things as usual).

So I’m talking to my mother about an item in the news and she asks “Where did you read that?” I told her on the internet and she asked if I ever read a newspaper. “Rarely” I replied. The paper in this town is decidedly leftist and besides that has very few redeemable writers. You see, my mom is an exceptionally low tech individual and therefore must rely on the printed word and television for her news. (She doesn’t even have cable).

Thus I began to consider how it is that the mass media and the smaller, less slanted outlets present their news. *We’ll just call it all “news” here for argument’s sake*

If you take a single story as an example, we’ll use the Dan Rather debacle in this instance; you’ll find that the main stream media is a bit like the stereo that was turned off at a loud volume. Turn it on once again and it’s blasting from the get go.

When they get their paws on a story that fits the mold, i.e. furthers their agenda, they come out blasting. Turn that stereo on again and you’ll hear nothing but loud. No substance, no fact checking, just loud. Scream it to the hills and valleys until everyone hears what you’re saying and the dimmer ones start to believe it.

But wait. In less than a week this changes…

The smaller outlets pick up the story, and low and behold there’s more to it than just the blaring headline. In many cases the actual facts of the story would, in reality, make the cooked up headline read the exact opposite.

Let’s look at our example story: Dan Rather breaks the news that Bush shirked his duties in the National Guard and one of his father’s close friends covered for him. This was the battle cry of every hard core, anti-Bush leftist from here to Pyongyang. They yelled and screamed it like it was found in a 2000 year old book along side the very word of God, not presented by an unknown source with little or no secondary corroboration. This goes on for a little over a week and then the hounds catch the scent. First it’s just internet chatter: news sites and blogs are all a flurry with questions and interesting points about the supposed documents that corroborate Rather’s story.

During this time the main stream media ignores any of this and continues looking ahead to what this who scandal could mean to the Bush white house. They had all but impeached the man before they even knew if there was any crime or simple improper behavior that was FACTUAL, and not just conjecture. Within about three weeks the yelling met a sharp decrescendo when it turned out that the source was lying and the documents were indeed fakes. Can you imagine?

But here’s the best part: The mainstream media didn’t cover these findings with all the fanfare of Rather’s initial fabrication. No no, that wouldn’t do at all. Any information that absolves anyone in the Republican Party, much less the President, should not be openly reported to the masses, lest they know the truth.

Well, I’m sure you all know the ending to this particular fairy tale; Dan Rather was forced (though quietly and behind the scenes) to fold up his red flag, pack up his communist manifesto and fade into obscurity with the rest of his kind. In this instance the truth came out and in a big way. Luckily we have a few non-left wing media outlets with the power to put the real findings on the airwaves. But just imagine the things that never got reported because there was no internet. Just think, ole’ splish splash Teddy himself may have ended up in a televised hearing with a blue dot over his bloated face, trying to explain the intricacies of alibi building while loaded up on scotch taking an evening jog.

My point here is this: The mainstream media is noise. Their credo is “the louder the noise, the longer the time, the more people will believe you”. I was lucky enough to have a teacher in a Georgia public school tell me something that has made all the difference in my adult life where the news is concerned.

Question everything you hear until you prove it yourself.

I’m comforted also by something my parents instilled in me from the time I could understand what they were saying to this very day.

The truth will ALWAYS come out. Truth is indestructible and eternal. No matter how complicated and multi-faceted your lie is, the truth will be known eventually. Thank God for those who seek it and share it for it is they and not the screamers who shape our understanding of this age.

If you’ve ever wondered why a liberal will never win a debate with a conservative or libertarian (and will rarely acquiesce to participate in one) it’s because of that little word, Truth. Lies cannot defeat the truth in open debate.

If you doubt that liberals fear the spread of truth in America then take a look at our government. There are currently several bills on the floor (all by liberal Democrats) that would ‘regulate’ the flow of information on the internet.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

Orwell was right.