Truth Has A Bias

In the very beginning of the United States while the nation was still trying to figure out what it really was, the Government was a very loose Confederation in which every state was an Independent Nation in Confederation with the other states, there was a big argument going on about the media. In those days Newspapers and Printing houses putting out Pamphlets.

They were trying to figure out how much freedom to allow the Press and people who wrote Pamphlets. For example, Tom Paine's Common Sense and American Crisis, written during the Revolution, and The Rights of Man, written about the French Revolution, were all considered Pamphlets.

They recognized that a Free Press could be very damaging, yet it could also be vital to Freedom.

As that argument went on Thomas Jefferson said, in 1787, probably during the Constitutional Convention, that "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter".

They passed the United States Constitution in 1788 and held the first elections in 1789. The House of Representatives and Senate were convened and then the President, George Washington, took office. And the first thing that they did then was pass the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. These are commonly called "The Bill of Rights".

And the first amendment reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

And notice what this says. No Law Establishing Religion. No Prohibiting the Free Exercise thereof. No Abridgement of the Freedom of Speech. Or Freedom of the Press. No denying the right of People to Peaceably Assemble. And no denying the People's Right to Petition for Redress of Grievance.

And while there is a whole lot to unpack here, and I am going to be writing about all of this soon, I just realized, for today, we are going to be concentrating on the Freedom of the Press.

And I know a little something about what an effective press can look like. I grew up in the days when there were a lot of different ways to get ones news. And there were rules about what you could and could not report. It was before the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the Consolidation of Networks and other News Orgs.

You know. When Capitalism truly worked because there was Competition and Regulation.

There has always been attacks on the Free Press. A Truly Free Press has always been a danger to the powers that be. Because a free press can tell the truths that those in power really do not want people to know.

From the beginning during every war the press had free reign for the most part. They went where they wanted and reported what they discovered. They would co-operate with the military authorities to not get troops hurt by reporting things that would compromise the mission. And they mostly had a free hand.

After Vietnam the military decided that they really did not like that much.

And then we get to all of the reporting that lead to Vice President Spiro Agnew resigning his office in 1973. He was under investigation for Bribery, Extortion, and Tax Evasion. And the press's relentless reporting on this lead to his resignation and the impossibility of keeping it quiet until after his term was up.

And then, of course there is the relentless reporting of Woodward and Bernstein. They kept digging and digging, never giving up, and finally President Richard Nixon resigned his office before he would have been Impeached in the House and then Convicted in  the Senate.

You know, when we had a functioning Government.

And our Government, on both sides of the aisle, started reigning in press freedom. With Anti Whistle Blower Laws. Segregating the Press and Restricting where they could go during what is now called anything accept War.

And remember, this was not just a Reaction to Vietnam and Agnew and Nixon being ousted. This was a Reaction from the Forces of the Far right who looked at us, especially at young people saying No to the strictures that they thought were needed, and young people were afraid of, and part of a much longer battle to establish a Nazi Oligarchy within the United States.

And here is the crux of why, in my opinion, the press is under constant attack by Authoritarian forces and those who are hiding things from the rest of us.

Truth Has A Bias.

Truth has a bias towards Reality. When one is living in Truth prefer Reality to fantasy for the most part. And when one is Lying and Concealing then the last thing one wants is anything as messy as Reality poking it's head thru the door. Reality does not work with Lying and Concealing. It rather tends to blow up the lying and concealing.

Truth has a bias towards Empathy. People who live in Truth, IE a Reality Based World, can see more than one view. They can see the other side of things. And they can feel what other people are living. People who live in an untruthful world tend to be inside a single viewpoint self centered world.

Truth has a bias towards Responding. People who live in Truth tend to think about things and respond appropriately instead of Reacting. People who live in Falseness tend to be much more Reactionary rather than responding.

Truth has a bias towards Peace. People who live in a truthful world are much more interested in Peace than War. Willing to spend time in working things out instead of wanting to go to violence. Will spend time trying to resolve before violence.

Truth has a bias towards Liberal living. As in being aware of the world around one with empathy and understanding and a willingness to let people be people without having to make them wrong. While also facing injustice, even when that injustice does not directly affect them, and saying No. This will not stand.

So yes, truth has a bias. And that is why thought is so powerful and why those who want to control you will attack the truth and the spreading of the truth as hard as they have to.

We are now living in the times when the effect of a very powerful and very well funded attack on truth has been going on, in this iteration, since the early 1970's. The weapons of that war for the side of control has been many. Starting with an ongoing attack on education,  think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, buying Ronald Reagan, repealing any control on truth in media, consolidation of media and industry into fewer and fewer hands, funding propaganda channels in media, IE talk radio, Fox "News", and a whole lot of websites like The Drudge Report etc, until now there is a whole lot of confusion and obfuscation and no clarity at all for many people.

And yet, all the way thru there have been people who have seen thru the fog and been talking very clearly about what is happening. And recent events have shown that while they are almost where they want to be, in a Nazi State, more and more people are waking up to what is actually happening.

Because Truth has a Bias towards Clarity.

So yes, we are in very dangerous and "interesting" times, it is not yet over. We can still stop this headlong plunge towards a Nazi State.

To stop that plunge We Must Stand in Truth.

Even when Alone. Even when afraid. Even when it looks hopeless.

We Must Stand in Truth.

Because Truth has a Bias.

A Bias Towards Love.

The Final Truth.

Namaste 🙏