In Search of Information and the Truth

In Search of Information and Truth

I have not written anything since the election. There are three reasons for that.

1. I had some health issues that needed correcting. I have been and still am working on that one.

2. I have been preparing as best as possible for the coming decade which may be pretty rough. I will write a lot more about that later.

3. I have been watching and listening for information on what the election and its aftermath would mean to my family and the rest of the country. Trying to get unbiased news is… quite frankly, impossible.

Network news, including ABC, NBC, and CBS is and has been useless and completely liberal for over 20 years. They turned to 30 second sound bites; fluff broadcasting that can not in any way be considered journalism. Even their hour prime time shows such as 60 Minutes and Dateline are just larger bits of biased fluff.

PBS like their brothers at NPR toke their stand years ago, though it may be possible to glean a little info from them if you listen or watch dubiously. To a lesser degree the same goes with the BBC. Channel 24 in France is fairly straight forward and pretty much sticks to the facts (that they want to cover).

The local news is not worth mentioning and will probably disappear as the broadcast networks move to the cable and close local television stations, which it appears they are planning to do in the near future.

Cable news is more in depth with the stories they want to cover and with the slant they want to show. CNN, HLN, MSNBC, CNBC, & Fox News are mostly biased and bore the hell out of you repeating the same stories over again and again until you think your poor brain will melt.

What about the print media (including magazines? They are dinosaurs that need a meteor to put them out of their misery. Here in Baltimore, the Sun is just shadow of its former itself and the headquarters of the Maryland Democratic Club. Our alternative, the Baltimore Examiner ceased publication a couple weeks ago. I quit getting the Sun except on Sunday (for the fliers) so we’ve had to find some other junk mail to line our bird cages and wrap our fish.

How about radio? There is little or no journalism on the radio. If there is a newscast, articles simply are pulled from the wire services (such as API & UPI) and read intact with no thought as to how slanted and sometimes absurd they are. The talk shows are not news as they freely admit and can not be thought of as a source of information unless you listen with an extremely jaundiced ear.

Online sources, showing extremes from left to right, are the norm, and obviously they are not news or information oriented but opinion based. You have to know something about the person writing. When I think I may have found someone that knows at least a modicum of knowledge, they usually disappoint me.

Groups such as Gather.com and Townhall.com are all over the spectrum. I have read nothing from either of them since the election. Truthfully, I needed a rest.

I have avoided broadcast news for over 20 years. I occasionally will listen to NPR or the BBC. I get updates from France 24, even though I think most of you know what I think of the French (it is not good).

I try to watch CNN, HNL. CNBC and FNN, but it is difficult. MSNBC is totally unbearable and unfathomable. Talk radio rattles my nerves and numbs my brain.

What is the answer? I simply don’t have one other than you have to be grounded in a solid workable ideology, sort and sift as best as possible. For now and in the future, more than ever, you will have to think for yourself, and take nothing for granted. As I have always said be prepared for anything.

In fact, in regards to information with sources in politics, government, and to a certain extent science, it would be very useful to consider the exact opposite of what is stated, and most cases that will be close to the truth.

As my health improves I will attempt to discuss some ideas that I think are very important for our future and the existence of our country. You’re input as always in very welcome.

Keep calm,

Bert


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