Trust Amid Lies
The general media is just now beginning to challenge President Bush on the falsehoods he and his administration used to justify the invasion of a sovereign nation. There are even some media outlets going so far as to decry the administration for outright lying to the American people, foreign governments, the United Nations, Congress... everyone.
But the real abomination to me isn't that the administration lied. It's that a vast number of Americans, arguably a majority, supported the invasion without questioning the information presented to them. I believe one of the greatest weaknesses of our American character is the overly unquestioning trust in certain sources of information, and the automatic distrust in certain others.
What makes a source credible? I would argue that credibility in this age has very little to do with truth. What makes someone credible to Americans is whether they look credible. That's why CNN can boast that they're the news source most trusted by Americans. Because hey, who looks more credible than CNN? I don't think CNN lies to us, per se, but I do know that CNN presents a very establishment-centric program of news. The administration knows that most Americans' daily news intake begins and ends in the first five minutes of Headline News. They were, and are, able to take advantage of this situation to further their agenda. The administration knows that Americans will pay attention to the sensational headlines without much regard to the details behind them. If it means that they have to resort to using fear to get their point across, they have had no problem with using that. It's part of human nature, and in a world with ever-increasing demands on their time, people naturally want to get on with things, so they focus in on only those few things that catch their attention. What better way to get your attention than to scare you?
I don't mind the fact that people don't delve more deeply into the five-second soundbites. What I do mind is that these people are basing their beliefs and opinions about potentially very important world matters on these five seconds. They don't even think about the fact that they're not getting the full picture, so the thought never occurs to them that there's information they should investigate further.
The only way our republic can pretend to be one "of the people, by the people, for the people" is for the people to educate themselves about the issues, and for the people to hold their elected officials accountable. Because we live in a republic, it is easy for people to forget about the issues between elections. But it is not only possible, but essential, that our voices be heard during our elected officials' tenure.
It is impossible to obtain unbiased news from a single source. Instead, it is the responsibility of the individual to obtains news about a given topic from multiple sources. In the past, this was nearly impossible to do in real time. However, one of the reasons why I believe the Internet is the most important human advancement of our generation is because it makes this news gathering easier.
Certainly, the establishment is trying very hard to exert its control over the Internet. But the Internet is the closest thing we've got to "of the people, by the people, for the people." This is a medium that allows independent voices to reach a poentially limitless audience. The establishment is just another voice on this medium. It is a voice that appears very loud, but this is not due to any intrinsic property of their presence on the 'net. It is a property of the trust that too many people give to them.
The challenge to each and every one of you is to delve more deeply into each story you see on CNN, and recognize that CNN is only one source of information in a world of sources--that it can be trusted no more than any other. Don't take the establishment's--or anyone's--word for anything without exploring more deeply what it is they're saying. Only thus can you develop a more complete understanding of the issues. Only thus can you begin to recognize lies when they are told to you, and only thus can you hope to unravel them.
Stop believing that the administration has your best interests in mind, just because they say they do. Take a look at what they're doing, how they're voting, how they're portraying our country to other countries. How they're using a color coded chart to spread fear and uncertainty. Is this in the country's best interests? Whose interests are these actions really benefitting?
This country was built on far greater principles than fear and lies. But if we do not take action, these are the principles that we will devolve into. The great nation (what is a great nation? this is a topic for another entry) that we could have become will be betrayed so that power mongers can advance their agenda.