Do you think the American public can handle the truth?

2015-07-04T19:23:44-04:00

The media and politicians isolate the American public and often we have to search three of four news sites in order to get a glimmer of the truth. Often that includes turning to foreign news sources such as the BBC and Aljazeera. What do you think?

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 4 at 2015 7:34 PM

2015-07-04T19:34:28-04:00

The concept of "controlling a narrative" seems to be popping up a lot recently. It may be like buying a new car and then seeing your car everywhere though.

It's obvious why politicians do it. They have a specific agenda, and a tailored narrative allows them to control a situation.

The media is less obvious. But the thing to remember is that they are NOT servants of the People. They are a profit oriented business, with their own agenda. Making money. Controlling a narrative is a great way to make money. Especially when your revenue is NOT from the People, but from your Sponsors. Sponsors INVEST in media narrative.

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2015 2:37 AM

2015-07-05T02:37:33-04:00

I happen to think that, regardless of what the truth is, people in general cannot handle things outside of their own world-view - be it from religion, politics, upbringing, or whatever. When a fact challenges what they 'know', people disregard the fact no mater the veracity.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Jul 5 at 2015 7:04 AM

2015-07-05T07:04:04-04:00

Might be better to address whether the public really wants the truth or not....once you move outside the circle of the general population, most things do not matter....consider the Benghazi failure and the death of Ambassador Stevens - while most military see this as a failure to take care of our own, it is not a big issue to the masses.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2015 7:22 AM

2015-07-05T07:22:45-04:00

I believe the American people can handle the truth. The problem I see is that many are so opinionated and closed mind that the truth can not penetrate. If you are automatically judging things based solely on who is reporting you are whom I am speaking of.

Response by CPT Richard Riley made Jul 5 at 2015 7:36 AM

2015-07-05T07:36:45-04:00

The factual, actual truth is difficult to come by no matter how you approach it. It seems these days there is always an agenda with any information put out for public consumption. The slant goes both ways on the political spectrum, religious spectrum, and social spectrum.The difficulty I've found is the filter you use to sift through all the 'muck' to get down to the facts, filters change the color and shape of what your looking at and can be easily biased.

Response by PO3 David Fries made Jul 5 at 2015 8:08 AM

2015-07-05T08:08:23-04:00

Amazingly enough, there are things that I believe should be kept secret.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jul 5 at 2015 10:29 AM

2015-07-05T10:29:49-04:00

CPT Private RallyPoint Member, I've noticed that too (as I'm sure a majority of us have). My theory is that the media is definitely politically biased and will only report what makes their preferred party look the best.

For example, I consider myself a Conservative Libertarian, yet I can't stand Fox News. I tend to get my news more from CNN and various sources on the Internet. I will watch Fox News a little bit, until it starts pissing me off (because all their debaters seem to do is try to shout each other down).

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 5 at 2015 11:54 AM

2015-07-05T11:54:14-04:00

Yes and those that are disappointed by the truth will learn and grow.

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Jul 6 at 2015 3:07 PM

2015-07-06T15:07:09-04:00

I think we can handle the truth. However, as long as our media consists of for-profit institutions, we'll continue to receive the news coverage that best promotes their financial interests (and that coverage will almost certainly deviate from the full truth). With that being said, letting the government control the media certainly isn't an answer either. So, I think we're stuck with the status quo of slanted agendas in the media, and we'll just have to sort out the details on our own.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Sep 23 at 2015 11:28 AM

2015-09-23T11:28:03-04:00

I can't believe this question didn't catch my attention previously. It's an important one and all who have followed my other postings should know by now that I believe Americans can handle the truth and that those who hide it from us are simply hiding lies. They like to pretend that they are "protecting" US (I love the coincidence of the pronoun "us" and the initials of our nation "US"), but that is only a canard. I recently viewed an episode of Trifecta on PJTV which dealt with this issue specifically and brought the link here to share it as a new question on the RP forum. That's when I stumbled upon this one. So here it is. Enjoy...http://www.pjtv.com/series/trifecta-105/what-is-truth-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-pawn-of-someones-story-11319/

What is Truth? How to Avoid Becoming a Pawn of Someone's Narrative

In part 2 of What is Truth, Trifecta looks at how you can avoid becoming a pawn of someone else's narrative, especially when that narrative is inaccurat...