We can get a first-hand look at a major challenge that we face in our culture by considering recent news. First, a survey indicated that 1 out of 10 Americans blame Jewish people for the Holocaust. 10% don’t believe that the Holocaust happened or aren’t sure that it took place according to a study from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. 63% of the people surveyed in our nation don’t know that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. All of this comes under the heading of being misinformed, being a history denier, or just unaware.
A head fake is a sports term for thinking that a person will be running one way and then they change direction. Today the Big Ten reversed course and will play football this Fall in a truncated manner. Of the many reasons given, no one can really figure out why this change of course occurred. (full disclosure…I am glad that they are playing.)
President Trump spoke at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia and broke a record for the number of lies that he has spoken in the shortest period of time. I hope that people see the irony here that the Constitution is our written version of the truth for us. He also is on record in an audio recording for playing down the lethal nature of Covid-19, but now says that he never said that.
Climate change is a proven scientific fact. President Trump says, “I don’t think the scientists know. It is going to get cooler. Dr. Redfield, “Masks are more important than the vaccine to deal with the virus.” President Trump says, “Masks don’t help.” I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
The top communications official for the Department of Health and Human Services is going on medical leave after urging President Trump’s supporters to prepare for an armed insurrection and accusing scientists of his agency of sedition. “When Trump refuses to stand down in January, the shooting will begin.”
When the Director of the CDC said that a vaccine will be available in the Spring of 2021, Trump indicated to the press that Dr. Robert Redfield was “confused”.
So what and who do we believe? This is merely a short week of news. It is filled with lack of awareness, threats (sedition by the way is treason and is punishable by death), and lies.
The problem is also that we have gotten so use to this kind of news cycle that it hardly affects us with the anger and a response to lies that have been told. We are living that experiment where a frog is placed in water and the temperature is gradually increased to a boiling point. The frog doesn’t jump out which it would normally do if it were immersed in boiling water at the outset. It is boiled alive by the gradual increase in heat..
Any of the above news pieces should give us great pause in “normal” times”. We need to look at the context and the individual pieces that leave us wondering about the truth of the matter.
We need to focus on the fact that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. We need to focus on the various incendiary statements that are uttered from the White House and the Constitution Center, It would be helpful to know what informed a decision change in Big 10 football and not a lot of speculation. We need to get specific. When we call people on each head fake, misinformation, incendiary comment, we can have truth that sets us free. Right now lack of truth has been normalized to the point that it overwhelms us. This context needs to change.
We need to be reminded on a daily basis of the phrase that will permit lies to dictate how we see the world and how we feel. That destructive phrase is “I don’t know and I don’t care"!
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