So It Must Be True

I well remember an old phrase that my Dad often used “You are talking through (or, out of) your hat”. The meaning of this phrase is “to be talking about a subject as if you know a lot about it, when in fact, you know very little or nothing at all.”

This bothers me because I may do this on occasion. I do not take the time to look up the facts. Let’s face it we are lazy people. We have better things to do than to confirm the facts and figures. We rely on the biased media to tell us the truth.

Worst yet we use Wikipedia for our facts and figures.

Don’t get me wrong, like millions of other people, I use Wikipedia. But not for facts and figures! The attitude that “It’s on Wikipedia – so it must be true” scares me. Practically anyone can edit or post an entry on just about any subject to Wikipedia. Stephen Colbert proved this last summer.

Then we also get our information (facts and figures) from the media. Television News Channels drive me to the point insanity. Both Liberal and Conservative news channels tend to distort the news to fit their political agenda. And the political talk shows on cable television are even worse. Do people really believe this crap? I guess so, judging from some of the emails that I receive. I don’t, because I realize that it is only someone’s opinion. And opinions are like assholes – everyone has one.

Opinion is not the reporting of the news; it is simply someone's view on the day’s events. There is nothing wrong with that, if news reporting is not tainted by a person's ideology and the viewer/reader is told that it is just their opinion of the news. But no, we’re told that this is gospel (infallible truth). And many believe it as gospel. Worst yet we repeat it to others as being gospel.

Now, at this point, the misinformation that we have received from the biased media and have passed on to others is growing like a cancer. So and so said this; so it must be true.

If you repeat something enough times people will tend to believe it to be true. For example, I’ve been saying that George W. Bush has been a terrible President for the past 6 years. According to the latest polls people are beginning to believe it! Maybe I’ll make a George W. Bush Wikipedia entry.

Will Rogers facetiously said "Well, all I know is what I read in the papers." Fortunately for Will there was no television or internet at that time!

The Beach Bum