You Can’t Believe Everything You Read And Hear

Unless you are my co-worker

I have a co-worker that stops by my office numerous times during the day just to chat. Unfortunately it’s almost always about politics and it drives me nuts.

He’s one of those people that during our past presidential election cycle continuously claimed that he was a middle-of-the-road Republican, but always seemed ready to pick a fight over anything the Democrats did. That to me is not middle-of-the-road. Instead he seemed to be towing the Republican party line. Guess what, he voted for Trump twice while publicly complaining about him. This makes sense to me?

An example of a typical interaction with this person went as follows: this morning he came into my office to discuss something he read. Unsurprisingly, as is usually the case, he couldn’t remember where he read it, but it went something along the lines that people working from home are stealing by working a second job while there primary job was paying them. He told me there is a company out there that tells you how to do this. He couldn’t remember the companies name either, — what a shock. This is his modus operandi.

This is also the same guy that thinks that people that need public assistance are all ripping off the system. They are using food stamps while they are driving Cadillacs and vacationing at the Four Seasons. Of course this is all on his tax payer dollar.

Just as with his previous comment, these cases are more the exception to the rule than the norm. He then follows this up with “Don’t you think this is happening?”.

Of course when you are looking for someone or something to blame for societies problems, only the outliers rise to the surface in the media. What about the other ninety plus percent of people that follow the rules and do what they are supposed to? They are lumped in mass with those that have chosen to play the system for their own gain. This is unfair by any standard.

For those few that do take advantage of the system, and yes I do believe that they exist, we need to find a way to eliminate them from the roles, but not to the detriment of those that truly need the assistance.

This leads me to the biggest problem I have with people and the media. Taking reporting at face value without checking sources does nothing but perpetuate lies and conspiracy theories and is outright dangerous.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to correct my parents when they start spitting out so called “facts” that they heard on Fox News or they received in a chain email from like-minded friends. At least 9 times out of 10 what they repeated was blatantly false and I had to call them out on it and correct them.

What happened to the information I provided, who knows? None-the-less, I felt it was my obligation to not be complicit in allowing them to spread the lies without telling them they were wrong first. I provided sources for them to refer to if they were interested as well to prove what I was saying.

Quote, “A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.” — Thomas Jefferson

These are words to live by so it’s unfortunate that we as a nation seem to be failing at being informed. Taking anything that is reported today as gospel without confirming its accuracy is dangerous to our democracy. Yet people that prescribe to either party are falling for these lies and half-truths in record numbers.

Being a member of an informed citizenry takes a great deal of effort to make work. Sadly, I don’t know that most Americans have it in them to do what’s necessary to keep our democracy afloat. Only time will tell.

In conclusion, I must admit that I am somewhat humored by the fact that my co-worker can pass judgement on a whole group of people he doesn’t know, based on reporting from a source he can’t remember, all while telling me he is a centrist. It has to make you laugh.

What do you think?

Until next time…