This just in: I have beliefs and political opinions that may differ from you. I’m fine with that. What I’m not fine with is (1) people lying and (2) people believing those lies without question.
Let’s go through a few examples…
A couple of days ago, a Democrat won a special election in Pennsylvania over a highly favored Republican. Trump won that district by 20 points which is huge. The Democrats say that this shows how people have turned against the Republican Party, in large part because of Trump. This is just their opinion. The Republicans say he won because he has the Republican stance on abortion and gun rights and he likes Trump. This is demonstrably false. There are videos of the guy saying he stands for the exact opposite of what the Republicans say he stands for.
How about this one…
Abortion is murder or abortion is a woman’s choice. I prefer the later position but I can see the other side. However, making abortion illegal does not stop or even slow down the rate of abortions. It just drives them into the ally where the woman is put in great danger. So, don’t make that argument with me – the argument that making it illegal will stop it from happening. Instead, tell me God said it was bad instead. I might roll my eyes but still, you get to believe what you want to believe when it comes to God.
And there is this one…
Tax cuts for the rich will create jobs. Really? There is zero evidence that supports this. There is a lot of evidence that it makes the rich even richer. You can tell me that the rich deserve that extra money and again…I will roll my eyes. However, you get to have your own opinion.
What you don’t get to have is your own set of facts.
Others? How about Paul Ryan saying our debt is due to entitlements like Social Security. This, just weeks after passing a tax cut that will cause a 1.4 trillion dollar debt over the next 10 years. He’s lying.
How about “Obamacare is in a death spiral.” Again…a lie.
How about “California is begging for us to build a wall.” A lie.
I can’t start listing the Trump lies. Not enough ink in my computer to do that.
Gun control is the same thing. Republicans (funded by the NRA) will tell you there is no support for stronger gun control or research into gun violence. Demonstrably false.
But, while I’m on the “lying pisses me off” train, let’s look at what’s new at Fox News.
Fox used to have the slogan F”air and Balanced”. This is a lie, of course.
They now have a new slogan: “Real News. Real Honest Opinion.”
This is the same as saying, “We tell the truth except when we are not.”
As an example…let’s take Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart. When they appeared together and Stewart rightly pointed out that O’Reilly was putting out false news as if it were fact, O’Reilly responded with, “I’m an opinion guy not a news guy.” In other words, he got caught lying and went to plan B which was, “I was just expressing my opinion.”
I would love it if Fox had a headline that ran across their screen that would say, “What is now on the screen is made up” or “What is now on the screen is fact.”
Time to save the world.
Up, up and away…
Jim
