We should be mindful of what we say as what sounds good may not be all that good or not possible. On occasion, I may question someone as to “do you really believe that or you just saying that for affect?”
A key news item of yesterday is a famous shock jock has lost a second court case for denigrating the bereaved loved ones of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims consistently referring to the shooting as a hoax. He wanted to sound cool to his conspiracy thirsty followers, but paying out multiple hundreds of millions for saying inane and hurtful things is not a recipe for success.
I have seen on more than one occasion a follower of a well-known individual say a variation of “I like him because he speaks his mind.” The problem with this individual is he really is not conversant on many issues, so speaking his mind is not necessarily a good thing. In fact, he looks smarter the less he talks.
This same person while president took credit for creating a great economy from day one, when he actually inherited a, you guessed it, great economy in the third longest economic growth period ever in US history. His followers had believed his campaign BS that the economy was terrible, when it was not, so he convinced these same naive folks that “he alone” saved the economy.
Another president was once criticized by the same people for being Muslim and also attending a Christian church whose minister is a tad rebellious. OK, which is it – Muslim or Christian? He cannot be both for different arguments. As funny as this sounds, this contradiction continued all the way to the election.
The same president was also criticized by some for starting the housing recession. What needs an answer is how is that possible when the housing recession was underway when he took office. In fact, Senator John McCain, his opponent, wanted to postpone a presidential debate to go back to DC and discuss, you guessed it, the housing recession. Just for those who don’t want to realize this point, debates occur before the election.
While more jobs were created under a president from the 1990s than under any other president, including FDR who was president for three terms and a couple of months, he had a major problem of being a philanderer. What still amazes me is his wife stood by him, but took crap for so doing. This came from the same crowd whose religions frowned on divorce. She is not perfect, but at least people should be singing from the same hymnal to criticize her. What did Tammy Wynette sing, something about “Stand by your man?”
Finally, the Muslim or Christian president noted above, got into trouble with a line to sell his new Affordable Care Act noting, “If you like your doctor, you can keep you doctor.” His advisors should have told him that was a promise that could not be kept, as any network will leave off doctors you want, which is why you check it out first. It sounded good, but was not true.
So much of what comes out of the mouths (or fingers) of politicians, opinion entertainment hosts, shock jocks, and social media are based on words that sound good, but may not be true. Some politicians and others have earned the right to not be believed at all, which is a pretty scathing indictment. The last former president fits into this category, as he rivals the shock jocks in lack of veracity.
What should you do about it? Find good sources of information. Read, listen and/or watch several of them. Do not take what an opinion host says as the truth, as it is at best embellished. Stop reading, listening and watching conspiracy sources. Conspiracy stories are made up to distract you. And, for the most part, take what a politician says with a grain of salt. Some politicians are much worse than others, but just check the facts to be sure.
musingsofanoldfart 