But is it the TRUTH?

One thing I wasn’t quite ready for when we returned to the USA was the depth of the rancor among the population here. I should have been prepared, since I had read the news and heard the incendiary language for the past few years. But when we actually arrived here, and in the midst of the pandemic, it seemed dangerous in the extreme. When we heard supposedly rational and lucid people speculate that the virus might be a Democratic plot to win the next election, we wondered if we had somehow landed in a giant insane asylum. When we pointed out that this pandemic was a world-wide phenomenon they would look at us as if we were aliens from outer space. Many people in the USA have little or no concept of anyplace outside of their country or even their home state.  

It is very difficult to gain any reliable information in the USA. If there is anything like a consensus here, it is that “they” are lying to us. Who the “they” are depends on your political persuasion. If you are a Trump-Republican, the “they” are the socialist Democrats who are trying to take away your guns and turn the country into a socialist state. If you are a Democrat, the “they” are the evil Republicans who are taking away all regulation and bent on rapacious capitalism at all costs. If, on the other hand, you are a conspiracy theorist (which is sometimes indistinguishable from the above), the “they” is the “Deep State,” which is out to enslave us all, or perhaps some other “they” that is bent on destruction of our “freedoms.” If you are a fundamentalist Christian, the “they” are all the godless people out there who are “Satan´s helpers.” If you have some combination of the above beliefs, you will have some combination of the above “theys.”  If you try to be an independent thinker, you are bombarded on all sides by conflicting information from all those who hope to win you to their side. The solid ground I like to stand on has begun to feel very slippery.

As a person who likes to think that I am an independent thinker, this is hopelessly confusing. How to sift through this morass of propaganda? I try to see all sides of the picture and make informed decisions about what I consider to be the truth. For example, I have a number of email addresses and am a Democrat on some and a Republican on others. I get exactly opposite information sent to these in-boxes. I don´t subscribe to conspiracy-theory web sites, but there is a steady stream of input from these sources sent to me by those who believe in conspiracy theory. Since I regularly search the web for information, I get a steady stream of emails in my various in-boxes that reinforces my perceived opinions, whatever they are perceived to be. I am tempted to shout “a pox on all your houses,” and read  and listen to none of it, but that brings me no closer to an informed opinion.

What to do? What Is becoming more and more clear to me is that everything I read or am told is distorted by ulterior motives. That is true for Democrats, Republicans, fundamentalist Christians, and conspiracy theorists. I was taught that democracy depends on having an informed electorate, and it is very clear that none of us can be truly informed. This does not bode well for saving or reinstituting democracy in the USA.

So, what is my advice to you? I would say, don´t accept anything you read or hear at face value. That is particularly true if it agrees with your preexisting opinions. Assume that everything is just propaganda and try to remain as neutral as possible. Do your research and make up your mind and act accordingly. Or maybe, my wife suggests, just stop reading the so-called news!