New Blog Post 2 – The Media Problem – IT’S YOU

 

            As I stated in my previous post, it is practically impossible in this day to have a civil, constructive conversation with someone of a differing opinion. The reasons for this are many. There’s education, culture, and family to name a few. But the one driver that constantly seems to outpace everything else is media.

        Now when I say media, I’m not necessarily talking about the traditional media of the past; the network news programs, newspapers, and normal radio programming. What I am talking about is the assorted mishmash of news sources we come across from the highly-partisan and rarely honest variety found on most forms of new media like cable news, social media, podcasts, blogs, vlogs, etc. The full list of sources is long, varied, and all-too-often remarkably unchecked by anything resembling truth or, God-forbid, facts (regardless of what side of the aisle they are on).

           Yes, we have 24/7 access right in the palm of our hands and it’s easy for many of us to not only stay informed, but over-informed, misinformed, or completely uninformed as well. Far too many of us are so “well-informed” that we believe we can’t possibly be wrong, and we are all-too-ready to attack anyone who disagrees with us or hasn’t acknowledged the flaws in their own arguments.

 I’m not picking on anyone, it’s just the truth. Honestly, I have been that “informed” person before. So I know from where it is I describe.

 As I thought harder about this, I began to realize that much of the problem stems not from the variety of news services or opinion pieces, but from our desire to consume only the sources that reinforce our beliefs or speak to what we want to be true. Sadly, there is an over-abundance of sources, so if one wants to, they can easily stay in their own little multi-media universe, complete with groups of like-minded believers and never accept the fact that there are people who have differing opinions who can be caring, logical, intelligent, honest, and might have a good point.

 As I look back on my 52 years on this planet and I can see the direct correlation between the rise of incivility and the proliferation of the 24/7 media, multi-media, and social media. When I was in my 20’s and before, most Americans read the newspaper, those actually made of paper that left ink on your fingers. We listened to music or sports on the radio, and we might catch the nightly national news program in the evening for 30 minutes before we ate supper.

 In my youth we got our TV news from Chancellor, Reynolds, and Cronkite. By the time I was in high school, college, and the early years in the Navy those names had changed to Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather. Those were your television news sources. We read the paper, watched the evening news, and we were done – THAT WAS IT!

 We simply didn’t sit and watch hours upon hours of CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, CNBC, HLN, etc. We didn’t sit in front of a screen and watch YouTube videos. We didn’t listen to countless hours of Podcasts. We got our daily dose from a news sources and then we got on with our lives.

 We lived life away from media. We went out and enjoyed evenings with our friends. We watched sports. We went to the movies, and we saw movies without a political tone, you know… for entertainment. It wasn’t about us not wanting to be educated about our times and what was going on (newspapers…. DUH), it was about us being informed productive members of society, not mindless drones enslaved by the hours of biased, partisan media of any nature.

 Maybe we should try to get our news like we did before. Subscribe to your local newspaper. Watch the nightly news on ABC, CBS, or NBC at 5:30 pm or 6:30 pm depending on your time zone. And then leave all the rest alone.

 Try it for a month; heck, try it for a week if you can’t do a month! Put down your phone and look around. Turn off cable news, quit spending all your time looking at Facebook, twitter, Instagram, snapchat, or whatever else you look at. Enjoy your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community. I guarantee you’ll get enough news and info from the paper and the nightly news to know what’s going. And you’ll have more time to decide for yourself what you believe rather that forming your beliefs from what you are exposed to on internet media, cable networks, and social media.

 Give it a go. Maybe, just maybe we can begin to reintroduce civility to our conversations.

 

Cheers,

Bill

New Blog Post #1 - Reset

 

It’s time to start writing a little bit more often. For those that don’t know, it has taken a while for me to get back to place in my life where I feel secure enough to express my thoughts; so, it’s time I start writing again.

             In the past, this blog has been a little more partisan than I would have liked. I thought about removing the old posts, but I decided to leave them as they are a part of my journey down the road of development as an American, a Texan, a veteran, a family man, and a Conservative. Often, my journey has been more of a moderate view of American Politics. So, I wanted to start this blog back up to make some points, spread some helpful information, and hopefully start some respectfully civil dialogue.

              Far too often today’s political discourse takes about five seconds to lose all semblance of civility and disintegrate into the ridiculousness found regularly on an elementary school playground.

 “No, I didn’t… Yes, you did… No, I didn’t… etc.”

             Far too many intelligent and respected people fear speaking out less they find themselves cancelled by some loud-mouth who makes their points through volume, interruptions, and absurdity rather than civil discussion and understanding (Side Note: I am a recovering “Loud Mouth”). They don’t listen to anyone who has a differing opinion, only a favorite news outlet, podcast, YouTube video, or alternative media source that puts out the information they want to hear – AND they’re on both sides of the political/social spectrum.

             So, I have decided to take this blog in a direction that promotes discussion of ideas. A place where you can agree or disagree and not be attacked or cancelled. I have my opinions on issues, and they are formed by my beliefs and my experiences. When I started this blog way back in 2009, I was like so many hyper-partisan people we see and hear from today. I never really listened to what someone was saying. I would often interrupt as I already knew what the other person was going to say and just wanted to get my point out as it was far more important than anything the other person had to say.

             After much soul searching, prayer, counselling, and repentance, I have learned so much better how to listen, how to empathize, and how to have an actual discussion of ideas rather and delivering a proclamation of why my opinion was right. With genuine interest, I can hear out the differing opinions and ideas of others. It may or may not change my mind, but I will listen and be open to the exchange of ideas to better understand what others think. I’m not perfect by any means, but this has helped me be a better husband, father, son, friend and Christian.

             Far too often people go through their day looking for the next argument or fight about the subjects of the day. What a harsh way to spend your time. We must realize the truth of life; we come into this world with nothing but the love of those around us and God-Willing we will be surrounded by the love of those around us when we depart this world. Remember that the next time you’re “looking for a fight.”

 In closing, I leave you with this:

We can disagree without being disagreeable,

We can have differences without division,

We can compromise without abandoning our principles,

And we can work together, and we should!

 

God Bless,

Bill

Civility in the Modern Political Era

With this week’s death and funeral services of President George H. W. Bush, we have seen a great deal of civility and national unity. It always does my heart well to see this sort of camaraderie in our country, especially considering the constant bickering, name-calling, and hateful talk that normally comes from Washington, and the rest of the nation on a daily basis.

Regardless of your feeling for the former president, one thing that is apparent is that during the time of Bush 41 and before, there was greater cooperation and thoughtfulness in every part of the political arena. Prior to and during Bush 41’s presidency, there were disagreements over issues and differing plans on what was best for the country, but those disagreements were generally handled in a professional and respectable manner even when members hated the other members.

In today’s government it’s quite the opposite. Today, the hatred is openly displayed and even if the members of the two parties actually get along, they can’t be seen as such in the public eye. It’s too hard for these members to admit that while they don’t agree with the other side, they actually can have a friendship with each other. It’s too hard because we as a society can’t believe that we can be friends with those who have different political views.

When Jack Kemp died a few years back, thee was talk about how to bring civility back into politics. When John McCain died recently, there was once again talk of bringing civility back into politics. And this week once again, we talk of how civility has been lost in the halls of government. Yet in reality, all this talk will fade in the next week.

This time next week we will once again be in a place where one state party is trying to boost membership by offering bumper stickers that don’t promote their party, but make fun on the other party’s losing nominee. Next week will see the leader of one party spewing venom at the other party’s leader and vice versa. We will see on PAC running ads not promoting their stance on an issue, but attacking the values of the alternative view. Not telling us why they’re right and the other view is wrong, but simply why those who believe opposite of them are a racist, or degenerate, or whatever attack they can make not to give their views substance, but to denigrate those who subscribe to the opposing view.

Can we get back to a place of civility in American politics and government?  I don’t know.

But regardless of the leadership we are to follow, civility starts like all things in politics – at the local level.

We must learn to be civil to each other, we must learn to be respectful of each other, and most importantly we must learn to make our arguments in support of what we believe and now to denigrate those who believe opposite of us. Until we learn to do that, we are doomed to the same partisan bickering that has our country in a death spiral. AND make no mistake, that is the direction America is heading.

God Speed 41 and God Bless America,
Bill