It Has Ever Been Thus...

"Now, it was for the sole purpose to get gain, because they received their wages according to their employ, therefore, they did stir up the people to riotings, and all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might get money..."
Alma 11:20

We are all connected.

Yesterday morning there was a 7.9 earthquake in Costa Rica.  I heard it on the radio.  I saw it on a web page.  I read it in an email.  I located it on a world map on my phone.  I even discussed it with co-workers on a skype call - all before the all clear was given to our Costa Rican contractors to re-enter their office building.

Costa Rica.  That's a quarter of the way around the planet from here.  It's in a whole 'nother hemisphere for heaven's sake!

We live in the "Way Too Much Information Age".  Information comes at us so fast and so plentiful via so many avenues that we simply cannot take it all in.  And we are changing because of it.

You've heard it said by the talking heads - probably even said it yourself a time or two: "Apparently, truth doesn't matter anymore."  And to some extent, they (and you) are right.  But it isn't because we don't care about the truth, or even that we wouldn't like to know what the truth is if we could - we simply don't have time to find it.  Truth does not fit into a 140 character tweet.

Or a 3 second sound bite.

We are instead willing to make a judgement based on a statistical approximation of the truth using the information we find most readily available.  Research consists of a Google™ search.  If the two-line summary of the search result does not contain what we are looking for, we won't even bother clicking through to the web page.  And if the top search result summaries all seem to suggest the same answer, we will accept it as true and move on with our lives - especially if the suggested answer aligns with our preconceptions.

Is it any wonder, then, that negative campaigns work?  It is not possible in a 30 second advertisement to effectively educate people on the merits of one philosophy over another.  But it is possible to defame and ridicule the other candidate.  In the first few lines of a Facebook™  wall post, you can't adequately explain why you believe one candidate's policies to be more effective than the other's, but you can incite fear by suggesting that the other guy wants to harm you in some way.  As with our Google searches, we'll accept as true what the majority of the information coming our way seems to suggest.

When did we stop seeing political candidates as a pair of individuals with differing viewpoints on how to make things better for people, and instead started seeing them as good versus evil - as one who will save us and one who will destroy us?  How have we become so polarized that we will with such passion and fury twist, filter and distort information, and even blatantly lie in order to, on the one hand, extol virtue and defend and excuse vice, and on the other hand accuse, attack, dismiss and even threaten - all because of party affiliation?

Has it ever been thus? (That's an old-fashioned way of asking, "WTH?")

Not anymore.  Not for me.

I choose to delete, not forward inflammatory or derogatory tweets, emails, texts, Facebook posts, etc regardless of which "side" they support.  I choose to turn off media outlets that "stir up the people" to hatred or contention, or that seek to promote one person by vilifying another.  I choose to speak only with respect about those who hold or seek public office.  I choose to vote based on the principles and platforms that a candidate upholds, and never based on party affiliation.

And in this too-connected world of instant information (and piles of it), I choose to take the time to learn the truth.