WATCH OUT FOR REAL DECEIVERS
??????????????The “Four Corners of Deceit”: government, science, academia and the media.
??????????????The late radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh coined this term several years ago, as he claimed climate change was a hoax.
??????????????Contrary to that theory, former Vice President Al Gore called climate change “An Inconvenient Truth” in his book.
??????????????This is not just a simple debate. This “dispute” creates parallel universes of “truth.” One is smart to treat everything one reads or hears, purported as fact, with a skeptic’s ear.
??????????????But to take on our origins of knowledge without any basis of fact is reckless, even dangerous.
??????????????It has led to debates about what children should learn in school. Do we want our kids to learn only what we want them to know, or hear? Or, do we want them to learn the truth and follow the facts wherever they lead? We shouldn’t want them to believe things just because we want them to believe them. We should want them to be thoughtful, mindful and diligent about discerning truth from conspiracy, then making up their own minds about what to believe.
??????????????For example, certain types of discrimination are carefully taught in some households. But, as children go out into the world, they often find that what they were taught to hate cannot, and should not, be hated.
??????????????They may come across people whose behaviors they do not understand. But they learn that that is no reason to hate them.
??????????????Limbaugh may have found those institutions to be deceitful because they exposed things that were contrary to HIS version of the truth.
??????????????Certainly, one knows that not everything that comes out of those four corners is true. One can also ascertain that government, or some forms of media, can and do create narratives intended to make people believe what those institutions want them to believe.
??????????????But academia’s and science’s sole purpose is, or should be, to find the truth, teach the truth and not dress the truth in something that might make it look like something it is not.
??????????????By labeling our institutions as pillars of deceit does a disservice to our way of life. It does a disservice to our ability to advance our society, progress with new inventions and find ways to live even better lives.
??????????????Facts can be pesky things. They can get in the way of a good story. But, they can also expose REAL deceit among people and entities.
??????????????We’ve morphed into a society that, when someone doesn’t ?like something, he or she feels free to make up something different. We’ve come to believe that if someone with a big megaphone says something loud enough, often enough and unwaveringly enough, at least some – enough? -- people will presume it is true, even if it isn’t.
??????????????Such a society is not a good place to raise and educate children. Children must learn how their ancestors created the world, and the tactics they used. Some of those tactics need teaching so the next generation will behave differently, and for the better.
??????????????No one is perfect. No one acts perfectly all the time. We make mistakes. But we, or those who come after us, must acknowledge those mistakes for what they are, so they will not be repeated.
??????????????Challenging certain truths can do real damage to the world we so carefully want to preserve.
Peter