Whines! Groans! Cheers! Jeers! Wringing of hands and dire warnings abound...all over the internet, with particular targeting of "Social Media." THAT is a misnomer, if I ever saw one...it is NOT social and it is NOT civil. Social media isn't even truthful, except seemingly by accident. Not many "thinking" people disagree as to the falsehoods that abound on the internet.
The same complaint(s) are becoming rampant regarding the media, with particular attention on what is euphemistically called the "news" media. The term "fake news" appears everywhere, both truthfully and falsely applied so often as to make the label ineffective as either a warning or a label (truth in anything, including advertising and public relations, is a rarity).
Politicians and their supporters (does that end up labeling over 90% of our population?) add to the lack of candor, having expanded their falsehoods from campaign promises to include actions and positions actually taken while holding office.
So...is this unacceptable? If so, to who (or is it "to whom,"...I never did get that right)? Is there any desire...a heartfelt desire...to change this and return to a more truthful existence for all of us?
It would be nice to believe that such a desire exists. But...how? Here are a few ideas to consider...and feel free to think up additional and (hopefully) even more effective ways to accomplish the goal.
First, the so-called "news" media have to be forced to tell the truth and/or label their lies as lies.
Second, internet posting of any kind has to be able to be tracked to the person or organization that is commenting.
Third, all media (including that labeled as "news") has to be made legally responsible for falsehoods. It is time to, in the interest of Justice, to eliminate the qualification or claim of "absence of malice." If a person in private life can be legally made responsible for libel and/or slander, so should the "news," whether it be broadcast or print.
Is there any real reason why our people, our country, our government cannot pass laws that require all comments, all stories, all reports be attributed to real people and real organizations so they can be held accountable? Is there any reason why anyone should be free to repeat slander or libel just by quoting another person? That should be unlawful unless the person or organization repeating the story has independently verified it with attribution...not anonymously.
Why shouldn't a person that defames another be held accountable and not allowed to hide behind anonymity of the internet? Require that identification of those posting be available, so that there can be confrontation, both personal and legal. I see comments on "social" media and in stories that, if the commenter were made public and had to repeat the comments face to fact, would never say the things that they have posted or written.
As I grew up, I was advised to live my life, and speak and write, as if everything I did and said could appear on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow; think and consider before speaking or writing or acting. So many today thing there are no such things as consequences. Or, if there are, that someone ELSE will suffer them. It is time to stop that thinking. Time for the chickens to come home to roost...
If the voters demand this and insist that the internet providers not be allowed to censure but that all who use the internet be identifiable and legally liable for comments and statements, we can again enforce a degree of civility. But...we have to want to accomplish that and take action to demand that. Will you?
Showing posts with label accountability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label accountability. Show all posts
Monday, November 25, 2019
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Why do we Disrespect Congress?
I will admit to disrespecting Congress...a lot. If I want to be totally truthful, it usually rises to the level of hatred. But lately, I am stung by the question, "why?" Oh, I can complain about their actions (or perhaps I should say inaction). I can marvel at their ability to squander money that we as taxpayers had to work hard to earn, only to watch our politicians treat it like so much dirty water...to be splashed about and not even clean anything up.
It occurred to me earlier this week that I was blaming the forest, instead of the individual trees...and by doing so, was insuring that nothing would ever change. And it can be argued that most of us in America do the same thing. Of course there are reasons for this: we are busy earning a living; we believed and expected our Congressman (or woman) and Senator to do what they promised; others know more about the governmental challenges than do we. These are all legitimate points and facts.
But...it is our government. At least on paper. We are the ones doing the voting.
Perhaps we have our priorities wrong. Maybe checking on whether or not our Congressman and/or Senator is doing his job is a bit more important that watching that third football game of the day. Maybe writing or calling our Representative and asking why he voted for or against a particular bill...and asking directly (Yes,...or No) if he actually read it before voting is a mite more important than that tv movie.
Maybe our anger should not be at Congress, but at our own (the guy or gal that is supposed to be serving us, protecting us, listening to us, fulfilling their promises to us) particular member of the House of Representatives and/or our United States Senator. Perhaps it is time to tell them that their allegiance should be to us, not their party and certainly not the leaders of their party. We didn't elect a party...we elected a person. That person made promises and took an oath. We should be checking to see if they are keeping their promises, if they are fulfilling their duties to which they took that oath...instead of feathering their own or others' nests or making self-serving deals and not respecting our wishes and our needs.
Oh, they will scream bloody murder...much as our children do when we check on them and insure that they are doing their homework and keeping the right kind of company. But if we are going to serve ourselves and meet our own obligations to both us and our country, we need to treat our elected officials just as we do our children: trust...but verify. There are some that are doing their job for us. There are others that will only do it if we monitor them and hold their feet to the fire...or whatever other euphemism you want to use.
We should get on with it.
It occurred to me earlier this week that I was blaming the forest, instead of the individual trees...and by doing so, was insuring that nothing would ever change. And it can be argued that most of us in America do the same thing. Of course there are reasons for this: we are busy earning a living; we believed and expected our Congressman (or woman) and Senator to do what they promised; others know more about the governmental challenges than do we. These are all legitimate points and facts.
But...it is our government. At least on paper. We are the ones doing the voting.
Perhaps we have our priorities wrong. Maybe checking on whether or not our Congressman and/or Senator is doing his job is a bit more important that watching that third football game of the day. Maybe writing or calling our Representative and asking why he voted for or against a particular bill...and asking directly (Yes,...or No) if he actually read it before voting is a mite more important than that tv movie.
Maybe our anger should not be at Congress, but at our own (the guy or gal that is supposed to be serving us, protecting us, listening to us, fulfilling their promises to us) particular member of the House of Representatives and/or our United States Senator. Perhaps it is time to tell them that their allegiance should be to us, not their party and certainly not the leaders of their party. We didn't elect a party...we elected a person. That person made promises and took an oath. We should be checking to see if they are keeping their promises, if they are fulfilling their duties to which they took that oath...instead of feathering their own or others' nests or making self-serving deals and not respecting our wishes and our needs.
Oh, they will scream bloody murder...much as our children do when we check on them and insure that they are doing their homework and keeping the right kind of company. But if we are going to serve ourselves and meet our own obligations to both us and our country, we need to treat our elected officials just as we do our children: trust...but verify. There are some that are doing their job for us. There are others that will only do it if we monitor them and hold their feet to the fire...or whatever other euphemism you want to use.
We should get on with it.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
No longer Checks and Balances on Congress by SCOTUS
Laws no longer mean what they say. Congress no longer need concern itself with careful and accurate writing and wording. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will plug the breach, intuit the "real" intent of Congress while ignoring the actual wording of the duly passed statute, and save the day. Of course, there is a consequence for this service: SCOTUS has now re-affirmed its move from co-equal branch of Congress to a second rate arm of Congress. We have ceased to be a nation governed by laws and now are dependent on a political class that continues to fund the courts as a sap to many who wish to continue to delude themselves that there is a check and balance against Congress. Anyone with a brain recalls how Congress "crowed" about the condition of creating a State Healthcare program as a prerequisite to getting Federal Funding. They tried to blackmail the States and it didn't work, so now they went to their underlings, the Supreme Court, to absolutely legislate from the bench and eliminate holding Congress responsible for its actions. "Umpires" indeed...if so this is the Black Sox Scandal with the Umpires bought off instead of the Players. Does anyone question whether SCOTUS' budget request will now be granted in full?
There is a serious question of the legitimacy of any government structure when the laws mean nothing and can be interpreted as a politician wishes, instead of obeying the clear reading of words written and voted upon. This is the result of the political class coming to adopt the Bill Clinton plea of "It depends on what the meaning of is is." So many laughed as the absurdity of that comment, even as it turned out to be legally effective...and so we began to slide down the slippery slope of making honesty and truth and consequences immaterial in the American political world...and have also just made them immaterial in American life generally: now it is apparently acceptable to narcissistically focus on getting "free" stuff even as we all know that someone is paying for it...as long as that someone isn't "us." How delusional...and how clearly designed to ultimately destroy our country. Khrushchev will turn out to have been right when he claimed we would destroy ourselves from within...he is chuckling in his grave right now. Deservedly so.
There is a serious question of the legitimacy of any government structure when the laws mean nothing and can be interpreted as a politician wishes, instead of obeying the clear reading of words written and voted upon. This is the result of the political class coming to adopt the Bill Clinton plea of "It depends on what the meaning of is is." So many laughed as the absurdity of that comment, even as it turned out to be legally effective...and so we began to slide down the slippery slope of making honesty and truth and consequences immaterial in the American political world...and have also just made them immaterial in American life generally: now it is apparently acceptable to narcissistically focus on getting "free" stuff even as we all know that someone is paying for it...as long as that someone isn't "us." How delusional...and how clearly designed to ultimately destroy our country. Khrushchev will turn out to have been right when he claimed we would destroy ourselves from within...he is chuckling in his grave right now. Deservedly so.
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