Friday, November 13, 2015

We get our news from many sources

So I was discussing politics with a friend of mine recently, and he said, "All you do is listen to like minded people all day; people you agree with."  I did not respond to that, although I wanted to say, "You don't know me very well then."

It doesn't even matter what we were talking about.  Every one of my liberal friends get their views from the same places. I can honestly say that.  I'm pretty confident none of them watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh.  They have no idea what people they disagree with think, other than what the people on MSNBC say we think.  

Okay, I'll give one example.  I was debating Planned Parenthood with my cousin.  He said the attacks on Planned Parenthood are unfounded.  I said that even the founder of Planned Parenthood was opposed to abortion, and so she would be appalled that her organization is killing babies in order to sell their body parts."  

This was when my cousin said that I live in a bubble, and that all I do is listen to people I agree with.  I was actually accused of doing this by an atheist friend of mine a few months ago as well.  So it's not new that I'm accused of only reading to, and listening to, things that I agree with.  

My cousin had no clue what I was talking about.  He had never heard the story from that angle before. In the world he lives, with all the smart people he talks to, with all the media he watches and listens to, Planned Parenthood is a noble organization, the only one of its kind, that is capable of helping women. He wasn't even aware that the founder, Margaret Sanger, abhorred the idea of killing unborn babies. He was clueless to this.

Yet rather than look it up on Google, rather than find a book, rather than debating me with facts, he took the usual Saul Alinski route and attacked me.  He called me dogmatic. And I don't deny that I am dogmatic, but he was saying it to hurt me; to break my spirits.  He said that I only hang out with people that I agree with, something he had no evidence of and is not true.  Sal Alinski would be proud of him. 

Look, I don't care what my liberal friends think of me. I don't care how they decide to debate, or not debate, the issues.  I don't care if they think I'm stupid.  The fact of the matter is, they enjoy discussing politics and so do I.  So we will continue to do it.  But, just because I can do it here on this blog, I'm going to defend myself.  I'm going to do it just this one time and be done with it.  

In the world my cousin lives, in the world my liberal friends live, Hillary never lies, Obama is a great president, the economy is doing great, or at least better.  In the world they live a video was the sole reason for Benghazi.  In the world they live, they have no idea that most Americans see Planned Parenthood as a wicked organization for nonchalantly, without even a second thought, killing unborn babies and selling their body parts for science.  Or maybe they kill babies for the sole reason of selling their body parts.  My liberal cousin not see this. 

He doesn't because his own media doesn't report those things, and he doesn't read media that he's not familiar with, like I do. If I were into defending myself, I would have told him him I read leftist media, centrist media, moderate media, mush media, and whatever else media is out there.  I read it all because I want to know what everybody out there happens to be thinking and saying.

I want to know what conservatives are saying, but I also want to know what liberals are saying.  I want to know what conservative republicans are saying, and I want to know what the establishment republicans are thinking.  I want to know it all.  I want to know it all because I think that's important.  And from there I make an informed decision.  

You see, that's what the media should do.  That's what an un-biased media should do: read all the news; get it all from different angles. That's what schools should do: teach all the different angles of thought.  But instead they only teach one thought: the liberal thought. They do this because it's all they hear by the people they hang with and the media they listen to and read. 

There's truth the the notion that journalists and teachers should be open minded in their thought, and honest in fair in their reporting and teaching. This is not possible unless you get all your news from many sources, and not just the mainstream media, and not just CNN, and not just MSNBC, and not just CBS, and not just Rush Limbaugh, and not just Fox.   

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