Well, I can’t restrain myself from pointing this out. Quite a lot is being made of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s commencement address today at the Virginia Military Institute, a theme engagingly and happily aligned with the last paragraph in my final newspaper column 10 months ago.
Today Tillerson said: “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom.”
Last July I wrote: “If our society is to endure and prosper, we must cease selective truth-seeking and find ways to agree on the facts, a first step toward cooperatively addressing issues and solving problems. The real key is to advance our ability and willingness to thoughtfully consider complex matters from one another’s position in life.”
You can read all of my July 29, 2017 column at The Pantagraph
“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach”
–Hitler
We must use our intellects and set our emotions aside if we are to get ourselves out of this mess that we have allowed our society to get into.
The old saying “Don’t discuss religion and politics” should be discarded, for it is time for people to talk to each other eye to eye.
I recently heard someone comment that the arrival of the cable TV show “Crossfire” in the 1980s elevated acceptance of uncivil discussion everywhere. Somehow volume has displaced reason. Too many people have come to believe behavior that might land you a spot on the Jerry Springer Show (as either a guest or audience member) is laudable.