The Age of Deciet
I was born under the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, although I remember nothing about him. I do remember Dad talking about him. He liked Roosevelt.
But I do remember a few things about Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and of course the rest. The older I grew the more information I gained and the more interested I was in politics. It occurred to me that I knew far less about the candidates in the past than we know about our leaders now. Everything has changed about the political process.
I used to set with the family and listen to the evening news on the radio, later on the little black & white TV in the corner. The news casters of those days were not like they are today. There was a professional aura of impartiality and their presenting of the news was ‘just the facts, and only the facts.’
Yet those facts were few and the time was short and candidates for office had to introduce themselves to the American public through means that were, by today’s standards, antiquated.
Today we have endless hours of news, if you can call it that, the internet and its various offerings, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and a host of others, all connected to our TV’s, phones and all kinds of connected means of communications.
We know more in an instant that I knew as a child for weeks. We are inundated with overloads of information, little of which is totally factual, and most of which is less than useful. We are in touch with the media for hours each day, yet we are fed enough seasoning that our brains can handle. We are told more about the opinions of thousands of suppose experts, yet the landscape of information is tantamount to a tsunami and can be as dangerous.
It is dangerous because it is pounded into the ears of a generation without foundational filters, a moral compass or any serious philosophical understanding to measure the onslaught of information, misinformation, and outright garbage. Our information stream is a million miles wide, but less than an inch deep. We are drowning in nonsense and most of us cannot swim.
Everyone is an expert! Our opinions are shouted to the rafters, yet they are formed by tongues that have not submitted those opinions to the crucible of fire and the trial of foundational principles. Truth, is seen as what we feel about things without a willingness to provide validation, verification or supportive principles.
Yes, I am just an old man dreaming of the old days and I have nothing to offer to this modern age of confusion other than my experience, education and the character that it has implanted. So, I shall shut up and defer to those learned modern politicians who keep us laughing at their stupid statements and make us worry, that at some point in time, they will be taken seriously.
Pastor Dave
