What the iKnow Generation Doesn't Know

Election seasons always lead me to thinking again about the power of words (when don't I?).

  

Have we ever been so bombarded with them as we are today?  It used to be just books, magazines, and newspapers—and  maybe the occasional Saturday night newsreel.  Now, besides TV, we’ve got the 24/7 global bombardment from take-it-with-you-everywhere personal communication devices.

It's the iKnow generation.   If the law of supply and demand applies to words, then surely words aren’t worth much anymore.  Who can trust them?

Take for example a recent Facebook post (by someone I don’t even know), which  goes:  “Both sides do tell some lies. But the republican side tells many, many more lies. If you check the various fact checking web sites you will find republicans and conservatives with far more documented lies and distortions.” 

The fine line between words that are true and those that aren’t does seem to be getting thinner and thinner these days.  After all, writing and producing fiction is a multi-billion dollar industry.  We’re getting very good at it.  And, let’s face it…it really is time-consuming to verify all claims, isn't it?  There’s just too much data to wade through.  There is too much ‘expertise’ that we don’t all have.  Who has the time to do the hardcore research?  So, how DO we know whether what is being claimed is true, half-true, or somewhere in the ballpark of true?  And do we even care?

If we think like Debbie Wasserrman Schultz, the current DNC Chairman, the actual truth is less important than the goal of getting to the ‘bottom line’ of your point.  In her thinking, it is more important that whatever words you use have been subjected to enough ‘focus groups’ to ensure that they elicit the right emotional response which will therefore motivate the hearer toward your point of view. ..All the while knowing that most people will not take the time to check the truth meter.

In fact (no pun intended), the Facebook comment given above illustrates this point quite well. 

Claim made:  “the republican side tells many, many more lies.” 

Supportive evidence given:  there are” various fact checking web sites” which show that “republicans and conservatives” have made “far more documented lies and distortions”.  

Oh, really??  What are these sites?  Are they reputable?  What time frame is covered?  A week?  A year?  10 years?  50 years?  Who did the research?  Are they biased (who’s not)?  Qualified?  Who pays their salary?  Etc.

But the problem is, people tend to believe whatever they read or hear if it’s stated boldly and confidently and often enough.  Maybe that's just  how  we’re made.  If we hear it said over and over, then it MUST be true, right?  Was Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbles, right when he said:  “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” 

SIDE NOTE:  Well, the irony is, Dr. Goebbles may not have been the one to actually make that statement, but we’ve been told so often that he did, that we accept it.  In truth (believe me or check for yourself), this WAS the philosophy behind Hitler’s BIG LIE technique (Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X). 

So, can we believe what anyone says?  Does truth really matter? 

Only if you believe that there IS an absolute definition and absolute source of truth.  If you don’t--if truth to you is a subjective entity, then, no, it probably doesn’t matter.  And this is where we’re at. 

But consider:

• In the book that God wrote, He refers to himself as the “God of truth” (Deut. 32:4, Psalm. 31:5, and Isaiah 65:16).  
• His son, Jesus, not only says he speaks the truth (John 8:45), he also says he IS the truth (John 14:6).  Furthermore, Jesus makes the bold claim that “the truth shall make you FREE.” (John 8:32).  
• He tells us plainly that God’s word is truth (John 17:17).  No other book makes such bold claims about itself.  (There are hundreds of other passages I could have quoted that establish these assertions, but no one reads longs posts anymore. In fact, you may have already stopped reading by now.)

The Republicans are talking a lot about freedom in this election cycle.   It’s something the whole world wants, they say.   It’s a “God-given right,” they say.  I would heartily agree, but if truth falls in the streets of America, so will freedom.  This is a lesson both sides need to take to heart.  And so do we all.