Who Do You Trust?

Who Do You Trust?

Fake news – False agendas – truth or lies – the nation is caught in the emotional crosshairs of picking sides of political agendas, pandemic responsibility, and real social/civil rights issues – appallingly, that’s just some surface level issues – there are many more issues of equal or greater weight.

Tragically, we seem to be leveraging a smorgasbord resources to confirm or deny our positions in relation to these critical issues.

What, or who are these resources we leverage?

Are they credible?

What is our measure of truth or lies these days?

What have we hitched our emotional, political, civil and Spiritual wagons to?

Can we justify our positions, or do we just like the way a particular position sounds to us?

Are we honest with ourselves about some of these issues?

Its too broad of a question to address out right, so I’ll focus on only one (of so many) issues for the purpose of clarity,  “claims of a stolen election” (personal favorite).

I guess if the claims ARE really true, then I agree with those who support the stolen election claims – those making those claims should continue to beat the drum and fight the fight.

However, if those claims are NOT true they should slip quietly back into society – again, only focusing on the claims of a stolen election for the purpose of making a point – this is only one of a hundred issues we truly need to know the truth about.

So, let’s start there – it’s one of the larger questions all Americans need to ask ourselves – are the claims of a stolen election true or false?

The 2020 election is just one of many “straws” breaking (or reinforcing) the backbone of the American people. Each one of these “straws” carry weight, and each one should be thoroughly evaluated/vetted through trustworthy sources – sources we all recognize as being credible.

Please be patient with me, this is a good but very slow point – so here we are, all Americans are trying hard to ascertain truth from lies in an ocean of voices, opinions, agendas, and motives.

I have a few simple rules my kids helped me adopt for “determining truth from lies”:

1. Don’t trust anyone who makes money from pitching “only one side” of an argument i.e. talking heads, network anything, organizations, etc – their livelihood is pivotal on their ability to draw viewers/followers – truth is not part of their financial gain – hype is their goal, not presenting truth – I’m more inclined to trust sources that unashamedly share multiple sides of an argument.
2. Don’t trust social media (ever) – seriously, there are few rules which always equals chaos – I’m engaged in 15 to 20 active conversations (similar to this) every week, and I’m shocked at how many Americans (on both sides) who’s only source is social media – that feels lazy, shallow, and reckless to me.
3. Don’t trust voices or organizations that fund politicians, political agendas, or fund other organizations that do the same – these are clearly agenda driven sources, and there are thousands of them clamoring for our attention.
4. Don’t trust sources that CANNOT point to “firsthand knowledge” – firsthand accounts of an event are the gold standard – opinions are the first step toward an agenda, and the last step aligned with truth – we learned this hard lesson in Bosnia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.
5. Don’t trust voices of those in positions of influence (celebrities, business leaders, athletes, etc) who promote “only one side” of an argument – they are not subject matter experts, knowledgeable, and they do not have the best interest of everyday American’s at heart.
6. Last one – Don’t trust those we entrust in religious, clergy, or Spiritual positions who use their position to pitch political agendas that are NOT tightly tethered to faith based doctrine.

POINT: Reading, listening to or sharing information or positions from any of these 6 warnings is fine – but, we should never fool ourselves into believing they’re a credible source for transparent constant truth.

So, I said all that to ask, reference the claims of a stolen election – would millions of Americans still support this claim of a stolen election if it actually turned out to be proven false?

Remember, we’re not just swinging at nothing and hoping for everything – we have standards of credibility to consider.

If using the above-mentioned standards of credible and trusted sources actually illustrates the claims of a stolen election are proven false…    would we genuinely consider the probability that we’ve hitched our wagon to a false claim? Or would we blindly hold fast to the false claim because it satisfies other aspects of our personal agendas? Please think about this pivotal point before reading on – we all have to honestly ask ourselves about our own beliefs.

This is a big deal because I believe we embrace many of the ideas supports of the “stolen election agenda” offer, but are we turning a blind eye to the real risks associated with that position’s fallout and long-term damage? Are we being honest with ourselves? How much effort are we really applying to peeling that “truth” onion?

For example, recently the Senior Republican Senator (Pat Toomey) from the state of Pennsylvania spoke passionately on the floor of the US Senate, addressing each of claims of a stolen election and systematically debunked each of them – do we give that consideration, or do we ignore it?

If we weigh the Senator’s remarks against our 6 measurements of truth (listed above), then his remarks could easily pass the truth-smell test.

The Senator:

1. Is a member of the party that supports the stolen election agenda.
2. Voted for the party that supports the stolen election agenda.
3. Had a great deal to gain personally, financially, politically, and publicly if he supported the stolen election agenda.

Yet, the Senator did not support the stolen election agenda – curious for sure – or, evidence of truth (your call).

Sen Pat Toomey’s speech is easy to access via public .gov sources – I strongly recommend reading/watching that speech, accessed from a trusted source so you can decide for yourself.

A very similar case could be made for state level leaders (Governor, Sec of State) and elections officials in the state of Georgia who were also:

1. Are members of the party supporting the stolen election agenda.
2. Voted for the party supporting the stolen election agenda.
3. Could have gained (personally, financially, politically, publicly) from supporting the stolen election agenda.

Yet, these leaders did not support the stolen election agenda – again, curious for sure – or, evidence of truth (our call).

If we weigh the positions of the leaders from Georgia against our 6 measurements of truth (listed above), then their positions could also easily pass the truth-smell test.

So, if the claims of a stolen election are proven false, what else is false?

What are we holding fast to that just might be a lie? But we tell ourselves its okay because it fits our personal agendas?

For me, I would prefer a position, agenda, or movement with more credibility, even if that movement does not always line-up well with my personal agendas. (Seriously!)

The stolen election agenda is just one of hundreds of issues that we should know absolute truth about.

Is truth really that hard to determine? Or, are we the only thing keeping us from knowing truth?

Who do we trust?