Editor, Times-Union:
So you think it will be okay if fact checkers are eliminated on social media platforms? Anyone can say or claim anything about anyone - or push conspiracy theories about any subject - or create any story out of thin air, and it will be up to community participants on these platforms to “discuss” or refute such claims? What could possibly go wrong? While it is true everyone believes in the sanctity of free speech, will it now be permissible to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater just for the heck of it? Seriously? I guess everyone could remain seated and discuss the situation. That should work.
I hate to burst the idyllic bubble in which so many of you exist, but News Flash! Not everyone spends the majority of their time participating in social media discourse. On the other hand, way too many people do spend way too much time there and tend to believe, spread, and respond to the plethora of garbage found in those rabbit holes (and even add their own words of egotistical wisdom, denouncing anyone who does not share their belief system), while reasonable folks choose not to respond to said garbage.
Isn’t it curious - and sad - how lazy, disgruntled people tend to “throw the baby out with the bath water” whenever it appears to be too difficult or too time consuming to create reasonable solutions to problems instead. Everything is either/or, black or white, all or nothing when it comes to decision making. Thinking things through is just too dang hard, never mind listening to and considering the ideas of others.
One more thing: I see the new Republican-led Congress passed a rules bill that covered a multitude of subjects (especially the rule to better solidify Speaker Johnson’s position by making it more difficult to remove him) to be addressed in the future. However, the list of rules included nothing about the economy, insurance costs, inflation, the price of groceries or gas or utilities, or any other “kitchen table” issues. Hmmm ….. It seems even the president elect is not addressing these issues either. He is hellbent on annexing Canada and Greenland and buying back the Panama Canal and re-naming the Gulf of Mexico. His other top priorities include deporting all undocumented people without considering individual situations, instilling the fear of failure and collapse into hospitality, agriculture, and construction businesses. Then there is his plan to pardon prisoners (some of whom already had records of prior violent acts) who violently tried to overthrow our country to please him and who beat and maimed over 140 policemen and women.
Let’s be clear. We are in for one heck of a tumultuous, life-changing four years. Is this what you wanted? Are you just going to bury your heads in your social media accounts, create your own “truths” and become blind and deaf to the pain of others, to real truth, justice and what used to be the American way? God help us! I’m confident He didn’t want this either.
Jeanne Tuka Schutz
Winona Lake, via email