STP Speaks

Truthiness (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Stephen Colbert announces that "The WØRD" of the night is "truthiness," during the premiere episode of The Colbert Report. Truthiness is a satirical term coined by Stephen Colbert in reference to the quality by which a person claims to know something intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts (similar to the meaning of "bellyfeel", a Newspeak term from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four). Colbert created this definition of the word during the first episode (October 17, 2005) of his satirical television program The Colbert Report, as the subject of a segment called "The WØRD". By using the term as part of his satirical routine, Colbert sought to critique the tendency to rely upon "truthiness" and its use as an appeal to emotion and tool of rhetoric in contemporary socio-political discourse. He particularly applied it to President Bush's modus operandi in nominating Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and in deciding to invade Iraq.

I was watching the Oprah show the other day. Normally, it is lots of mindless fluff entertainment for me, but that day she had a show called "Truth in America". This fascinated me from its crazy title (you know - trying to find truth in America - it just sounded ridiculous) to its guests which were journalists talking about truth in America - again with the ridiculous. But, I listened and found it very enlightening. The major theme was about critical thinking and how that has been missing in the media and in our current culture. I couldn't have agreed more. With our current administration, critical thinking in the media and by the general public has been lacking and even discouraged as unpatriotic.

Are we getting the truth about major events such as September 11, the War in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina? According to the Poynter Institute's Dr. Roy Peter Clark, "The truth is being distorted from all corners, and Americans don't see it, or if they do, too many don't seem to care."The most powerful antidote to these distortions, Dr. Clark says, is critical literacy. Here are fifteen things Dr. Clark says you can do to recognize manipulation in government, media, business and advertising:

1. Support school programs that help young people analyze and criticize media messages. Students should learn the values of the First Amendment, and, through their reading, writing, and speaking, practice those values. Freedom of expression means nothing if you lack the means to express yourself.

2. Don't just consume the message of advertisers, especially political advertisers. Talk to your children and to other adults about the hidden messages they contain.

3. Find three political bloggers who represent the right, the left, and the middle. Consult them to help you sort through political issues and media messages.

4. Join with others in your community to analyze how you are being served or disserved by your local news media. As famed editor Gene Roberts said about one newspaper: "You can throw it up in the air and read it before it hits the ground." What does your community need in the form of coverage that it is not getting? Who owns the news companies in your community? Are they in the news business to serve the public or to maximize their profits?

5. Look for role models of candor and accountability, people in public life who have proven to be reliable over time. Look for folks within a movement or political party who have the courage to speak, on occasion, against the interests of their own party.

6. Recognize the power of framing as a communication device. People may be telling you the truth, but only a part of the truth. They may be framing events to focus on some themes, but not others. In the immigration debate, for example, the "safety of our borders" is a frame, but so is "America opens its arms to immigrants," and so is "there are jobs in America that Americans will not do."

7. Learn to recognize the manipulation of language and images. Read George Orwell's famous essay, "Politics and the English Language," which argues that language abuse leads to political abuse, and vice versa. Be skeptical of any speaker or writer who calls into question a critic's loyalty to the country.

8. Learn the differences between forms of political persuasion that appeal to your reason as opposed to those that appeal to your fears or passions. Beware of slogans. They are a substitute for critical thinking.

9. A key value of journalism is to make important things (like health care) interesting for the public. Beware of attempts to make interesting things, such as lurid crimes, seem important -- when they are not.

10. Pay attention to people who are willing to change their minds -- as long as they are not addicted to doing so.

11. Prefer people who want to have a vigorous conversation to those who want to shout at each other.

12. Be not seduced into thinking that every hot-button issue requires to you be on one side or the other. There may be a middle ground. Don't be afraid to be puzzled or uncertain about an issue. It's OK to be working to make up your mind.

13. Get off the couch. Join a club. Volunteer. Sing in the choir. One way not to be fooled by political or media manipulation is to learn from direct experience, from reality and not reality TV.

14. In an age of celebrity culture, pay more attention to people for what they do than for who they are.

15. Be a skeptic, but not a cynic. A skeptic doubts knowledge. A cynic doubts moral goodness. The cynic says, "All politicians are liars," or "All journalists have a hidden bias." The skeptic says, "That doesn't sound right to me. Show me the evidence."

Must tell you all about this hilarious website called "The Chimp-O-Matic". I have it on my Google homepage and every time I sign on it gives me a different quote. I highly recommend it for some light entertainment. Whichever your political affiliation, you have to laugh.

What is it with these religious nuts who insist on calling for the violation of the constitutional amendment our Founding Fathers saw fit to write in as the FIRST??!! The latest is Katherine Harris from Florida (remember she was the Secretary of State during the first Presidential election.....you know the one with all the make-up)? Anyhoo, she told the Florida Baptist Witness (a Florida Baptist State Convention journal) that separating religion and politics is wrong because "God is the one who chooses our rulers". She also said, according to a CNN article, that electing non-Christians is essentially legislating sin. Scary stuff, for anyone who believes differently.

I know that Christians don't have a monopoly on highjacking governments - but they sure seem to be trying real hard to do it in this country. From President Bush on down to local legislators here in MO and KS there has been a real shift in politics. The question is, have they gone too far? In Kansas, the controlling members of the state school board recently lost power in the August election. Since 1998, the school board has changed hands twice, resulting in anti-evolution standards, then back to evolution friendly standards - coming and going with alarming frequency. This debate will seemingly go on and on. In Missouri, we have the stem cell initiative which will be voted on in the November elections.

Some folks are still calling for school prayer. A relative of mine insists that it would cure all the ills in society if we would just have kids pray in class. In 2005, a Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans favor voluntary prayer in school, but only 25% favor a spoken prayer. The majority prefer a moment of silence. This is encouraging, but it seems like we need more education on constitutional issues in our public schools. I don't remember having much of this during my high school civics classes. A good working understanding of the Constitution along with some basic caselaw on hot topics like this could go a long way in helping to educate the general public why our laws are what they are. People may still disagree, but at least they would have access to the debate and why our courts have ruled the way they have on certain issues.

It seems we do have a chance for change if we liberals and moderate conservatives join to vote for that change. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing the other way by this November.

I am so sick of being outraged at everything I see in the news. I don't think I can muster up any more outrage or anger at our government anymore. In my job as a public defender we call this kind of burn-out "compassion fatigue". I think I have the political version of this. I shall call it "outrage fatigue". For example, I used to get such a kick out of reading these godawful right wing freaky fake emails my Dad or my retired military uncle would send me. I would take delight in fact checking these and sending that back to them, forwarding it to all the people they had sent it to, and all the people that sent it to them. That was a fun sport for me that I used to love. Sadly, this week, I told my Dad to stop sending these stupid emails to me. I just can't muster up the outrage right now. I hope this is a temporary issue with me. I can't stand to watch the news, cause I don't want to talk about all the bad stuff I see on it with my other liberal friends. I am trying to care..... but I am just worn out by it all.

What works to combat this issue in my job is simple. I just go to some "Rah-rah-rah" Public Defender conference and get all motivated to help poor people charged with crimes again. Works every time. I think it is the combination of the group building each other back up again and seeing the new public defenders all eager and idealistic. Guess I need something like that to build me back up again before the 2008 elections. This is the danger we liberals face right now. We have a great opportunity to turn this country around, and I am afraid we may lose it if we don't keep up the appropriate amount of outrage. We need to get out there right now and join some group, or donate to a candidate, or work on someone's campaign. We can't let the right wingers defeat our wills to fight by sheer atrocity after atrocity.

So get out there and do what you do LIBERALS. It is time to take action and walk the walk. Let's fight for our rights, for our values, for our country, and for our right to partay !!!

AT LEAST I'M STILL A VIRGIN

Haven't posted in a while cause I've been kind of busy dealing with the I can't believe I'm..................how old? I've actually been pretty good about the whole thing in a "I don't have many wrinkles, don't look as old as I am, feel pretty young, look pretty young, but not married yet and no kids yet, and crap my ovaries are 40 years old too, where did the time go" kind of way.

Anyway - at least I still have my virginity!!!