The American political situation is an easy example of truth that has gone off the rails. Politicians are not the only group to play fast and loose with the truth. Politicians lie to each other and about each other. Political parties hire skillful organizations to manufacture lies and skillfully publicize them.
I read terrible things about Donald Trump and I say to myself this should do him in. Nothing happens and he continues with his wacky ways. So then I have to ask, "Is the information dished up about Trump the truth." We know that Trump admits that he makes things up as in his discussion with Prime Minister Trudeau when Trump admits to making up information on the spot.
Some of our news organizations churn out endless fantasy. These organizations know that the general public can not be on the spot to witness what is reported. We depend on accurate reporting to form our opinions.
This week there was a larger scarier incident when Cambridge Analytica was caught red handed stealing info from 50 million Face Book users to manipulate truth. They found information to use and manufacture information to feed the public. Apparently it worked.
With modern media, news travels in many cases instantly. Truth moves rapidly. With 24 hour news channels someone is always on display peddling their lies. At the end of the day there's usually nobody to believe. News casters go chasing another story for the next day.
Now it used to be that people would argue their point by using available information to support their position. They played by the rules. They used logic and information. They presented the information in using intelligent discourse. They could still promote their cause and let people decide what they would choose. We could go to several sources and compare the information. We could do our homework.
Now we have nothing that we can rely on. We must do our own research. There are limited sources that give reasonable information.
So some how we have to turn this ship around and impress on leaders and news organizations that truth is valuable for the good of the citizens and the health of the earth.
