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All
my life I have been someone to watch the news or listen to if I am busy. Occasionally I will scroll the internet/
social media sites just to see what people are talking about and their
perspective, I have also begun to review podcasts again for those perspectives
as well. Unfortunately, when doing so I
have seen some things that show a lack of knowledge, or lack of concern about
issues that history has dealt with that could be related to a current issue.
When
I have seen or heard something I thought would be a good topic to write about I
had been too busy with family and personal matters to do the research I feel is
needed and then draft a post. Then when I
had time to draft a post, I’d think that too much time has passed for a post to
be relevant and decided to forego doing a post.
Then another incident would occur that demonstrated to me it had not
been too late and that I should have followed through and prepared a post, so I
will be trying to catch up over the next couple of weeks. This is being drafted the day after the U.S.
House of Representatives passed a bill relating to TikTok and it has been
interesting watching a number of related posts.
Now,
before I continue, I want to say that before retiring five years ago I held a
position that gave me access to intelligence groups and I received weekly updates,
so I understand the concerns about TikTok and will not argue those concerns
now. What has been interesting to watch are
peoples’ responses to the “House” action, in part because those posting either have
not read the legislation or do not care, they are practicing the adage “My
mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with facts.”
It
used to be a person would attempt to sway another to their perspective by
discussing facts, or a different aspect that someone else may not have
considered, sometimes you would bring a person around and agree with you. There were also times that you would be
persuaded and change your position/ perspective. But now people go on social media and make
statements and citing “facts” knowing that most people won’t fact check them, many
today operate under the philosophy that it must be true because I saw it on the
internet. What people are doing now used
to be called propaganda!
The
action yesterday (Wednesday) was only taken by the U.S. House of
Representatives, the U.S. Senate had yet to receive or vote on the proposed
legislation. Despite this, many have
been online and social media angrily stating that Congress has voted to ban TikTok. To be fair some complaining about Congress having
voted to ban TikTok are complaining that there are more important issues that
should be a priority over TikTok, that portion of their argument I agree with.
One
of the arguments I have seen say is that the 535 members of Congress voted
yesterday to ban TikTok, those saying so are either too lazy to look up what happened,
are just repeating what has been seen in other posts, or realize that what actually
took place would not cause the reaction they want. So, for those that are not aware, or lack the
ability, or time, to spend less than a minute doing some research let me share
the following.
Congress
is comprised of two separate “Chambers,” the House of Representatives and the
Senate. The Senate is currently set at
100 Senators, The House of Representatives number of members is currently set
at 435 plus non-voting delegates for U.S. Territories (American Samoa, District
of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico,
Delegates for the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations have not been seated). Regarding yesterday’s vote related to TikTak,
417 Members of the House of Representatives voted, 352 (197 Rep 155 Dem) in favor and 65 (15 Rep 50 Dem)
opposed with 1 member (Dem) voting Present.
As I mentioned, the vote did not
include the Senate, yet some on social media are insisting that all 535 members
of Congress voted.
Over
the last several years people have become more suspicious and less trusting of
the traditional “Mainstream” media. It
has been shown that the media presents a political perspective or presenting
something as fact without confirming the information or vetting the source(s)
that provided the information. As a
result, people began looking for alternative ways to get the news and
information. People began sharing
information on their personal observations and facts they had access to, thus
was born the “citizen journalist.” Unfortunately,
some of these “citizen journalists” have begun sharing inaccurate information,
like yesterday’s House vote. To be fair some
have been posting accurate information, however, there are still plenty that,
along with others on social media that are not being honest in their postings
in order to persuade people that their position is best.
Watching
this makes one wonder if we will ever be able to return to a time when the media
can just present an accurate account of what has taken place (on any topic) and
allow their audience to determine for themselves if they like or
dislike/ approve or disapprove of what is being reported.? Similarly, will we be able to return to a
time when we just post our opinion as opinion and state an accurate argument without
distortions and allow those reading or viewing to make up (or change) their own
opinion?
Whether
intentional or not, the subliminal message being sent by “mainstream” media or
those using social media platforms is that they do not trust that their
audience is capable of judging facts for themselves!
That’s
My Opinion, What’s Yours
