Surely the most severe degradation visible in American society today is repudiation of God’s commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Bearing false witness is not just lying, the ultimate expression of dishonesty, it’s also telling half-truths, conduct that is often more vicious than lying.
Just look at the spectacles playing out in the media. Half-truths — commonly renamed propaganda — spread by political, government and military operatives are explained away as “public relations” or “psy-ops” — psychological operations. Propagandists are among the highest-paid people in society because they manipulate public opinion, not for the public good, but to support the agendas and prejudices of the powerful. Propagandists do it by convincing Americans that those agendas and prejudices are their own, using twisted alarmism. And when reasonable people object to such blatant mental puppeteering, such people get accused of being “conspiracy theorists” or otherwise slandered.
Please don’t tolerate being a puppet. Enforce Thomas Jefferson’s saying that “information is the currency of democracy.” Demand direct evidence of the validity of information, data that any reasonable person can measure for truth. Don’t be stampeded into sanctioning violence or mistreatment toward blackballed individuals, minorities or foreign people for threats not fairly validated.
— Stuart Thompson
Wasilla
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