Moving from the World of Alternative Facts To the Real World of What Is So

  

I was quite struck by the group of Trump supporters who Judy Woodruff recently presented in an interview during the PBS News Hour. The image of parakeets and parrots came to mind.  I am not trying to be snide or cruel.  My thoughts went to how both birds can copy sounds, words and even phrases. “Polly-want a cracker” readily came to mind. 

 

I thought about how these folks, all of them, believe that ‘the election was stolen,’ and that ‘Trump is still legally the President,’ even though he lost the Presidency to Biden by seven million votes. 

 

The election was claimed by these people to be filled with fraud, even though it was considered the most honest election in the history of the Presidency.

 

These folks insist that ‘Hillary is guilty of committing a crime for which she needs to go to jail,’ even though there was no evidence of her intending to commit a crime, even after fourteen hours of being grilled by those who were attempting to find her guilty.

 

They assert that ‘Trump did not try to change the vote outcome in Georgia, even though there was a taped phone conversation to the contrary.

 

 They repeatedly claim that ‘January 6^th was simply a peaceful protest and was not an attempt to overturn the peaceful transition and legitimate election of Joseph Biden, as President of the United States.’ This in light of Trump’s televised addresses that fired up his supporters to stop the orderly transition of power. There were, also threats made on the Vice President’s life, if he did not support Trump’s takeover of the government. We are being poorly served by those parakeets and parrots who only repeat what they hear, as the truth about what has been going on in reality. 

 

Then, we have those of us who ask who, what, when, where, why and how in regard to what is said and acted out. We are in better hands and on firmer footing by this faction of our political community. Moving from the realm of Alternative facts to the real world of the truth about what is so, is essential in our democracy. If we cannot believe what we are being told by our ‘leaders,’ how can we make those decisions that really matter to us as responsible members of our American Family, or as members of the world community. Questions like:

 

·      Is pollution really a threat to the air that we breath or the water that we drink? If it is, are we really committed to addressing a solution to this problem?

·      Is our food chain really being threatened by climate change? If it is, what are we doing about it?

·      Is our nation of laws and order being threatened by those who act as if they are above the law? What about a woman’s right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term? 

·      Is our economy on firm footing or are we in a dangerous fiscal period? Why are members of our American family having to sleep on the street at night and choose between food, shelter or medical care in their daily lives? 

·      Why do those who we have voted into office, are not responsibly addressing the needs of the people they represent?

·      And why are we not, in many instances, treating others as we would want to be treated?

   

And finally, we need to ask who, what, when, where, why and how to what is being said to us so we can be informed in our voting and decision making as members of the American Family. That is the very least we can demand of ourselves as responsible citizens.