Sunday, January 28, 2018

the burden of "truth"...

On a daily basis I am faced with the dilemma of whether or not to confront the endless amount of bullshit I see on Facebook from every side of the aisle and including any number of topics (I am an equal opportunity debunker).  Unfortunately, I have found that people tend to cling to their stances no matter how much "proof" is given otherwise.  Their first resort is to discredit anything outside of their belief system as biased without anything to back it up outside of the endless amount of similar BS they have seen...or simply resort to personal attacks as their last resort of debate.  No one seems to even try to do any independent thinking on their own based on real research...kind of like denying God for the many superfluous reasons that atheists come up with.  When confronted with a problem - it becomes easier to solve when you look for real world "givens" (yes, they do exist if you look for them).  If you deny the "givens" because they don't suit your way of thinking, then you just make the problem worse.  Although grey areas certainly exist...the black and white (good vs. evil) is always there if you look hard enough.  You have to dig deep to find some resemblance of real truth - and that takes some effort outside of simply sharing nonsense on the internet simply because if gives you some false sense of empowerment.

Bearing false witness is mentioned many times in the Bible, exclusively as something bad. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” is the ninth of the Ten Commandments that Moses brought back with him from his encounter with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:16). False witness, or spreading a false report, is associated with being allied with the wicked (Exodus 23:1), willing to do violence to others (Psalm 27:12), and sowing discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:19). The Bible calls bearing false witness lying (Proverbs 14:5) and compares a man who bears false witness against his neighbor to a violent weapon (Proverbs 25:18). Lies harm people.

8 comments:

Steve said...

What's Facebook?

Robert said...

As humans we need to find our place in life and for the most part individuals are very rare it's easier to just hop on to a side or ideology that conforms with a general belief and hold on.
I see no reason to trust any side until I have looked it over well can tell you that at this time division across the country is to most that I recall a conversation cannot be had.

John Wells said...

both comments...well said.

Margery Billd said...

Quite true.

David Johnson said...

I believe that right is right and wrong is wrong. You have to try to understand that not all people have the common sense now days. The internet has just turned some people into sponges of BS. That can't be rinsed out with common sense.

pamit said...

"a violent weapon"? I thought only people were violent, not weapons.

And I'm still trying to parse Robert's final sentence: "can tell you that at this time division across the country is to most that I recall a conversation cannot be had." I think I get the gist of it, but...."well said" it is not.

I engage in such back-and-forth on FB, only with folks I care about (and those are far and few between). I have relatives of the opposite persuasion, and we go at each other with love and bravery, over whether Trump is God or the Devil (to take a leaf from John's book). Funny thing is, over the phone and in person we never talk about politics. Facebook is sui generis when it comes to political jousting. Sound and fury, signifying...you know.

Robert said...

Pamit is quite right about my last sentence my little tablet freezes as I write.
Sorry

John Wells said...

Never let bullshit slide - whether on Facebook or in polite conversation with friends and loved ones. Otherwise, you just confound the many problems of the world.