5-17-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A disease of the 21st<\/sup> century \u2013 frankly, a second pandemic \u2013 is what categorizes itself as Fact-Checking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name is really a pseudonym. False identity. Camouflage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going back to the Age of Legends, it does not represent Diogenes, who with his lantern forsook all earthly possessions and searched the land for an honest man. My friend Bridgette Ehly reminds me that Diogenes is regarded as an actual figure in history, not mythology; and more\u2019s the pity, someone pursuing such a futile goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather, the practice of \u201cFact Checking\u201d today resembles the Trojan Horse, something impressive in appearance, but hiding saboteurs and swarming with enemies. It started a few years ago when Important newspapers had \u201combudsmen\u201d who kept their staffs honest. You know, The New York Times<\/em> had a little box on page 2 noting \u201ccorrections.\u201d Like \u201cIn yesterday\u2019s Travel Section, page C17, the height of Mont Blanc was stated as 15,407 feet. In fact that is its prominence; its height above sea level is 15,777 feet. We regret the error.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Whatever a \u201cprominence\u201d is.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Readers even got the impression that the wayward reporter likely lost vacation privileges at Camp Nawakwa on Lake Sebago up in New York State that summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, of course, that paper, and the Washington Post<\/em>, and the three network news departments, and TIME <\/em>and Newsweek <\/em>if they still exist, and cable news channels, offer regrets and apologies to readers if they happen to say something positive about President Trump or Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am exaggerating. But I think they do hand out demerits for mentioning same-sex couples and heterosexuals without describing them as haters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think we all have been victims of \u201cFact Checkers\u201d who lurk on the internet, and watch us all closer than than our parents did when we got our first cell phones. I have a theory about why those spying tricks are called \u201cAl-Gore-Rhythms,\u201d because we know what Big Brother, Big Tech, and Big Pain do. In fact they know what we<\/em> do, before we do<\/em> things. Get on the web, mention a country in an e-mail, or do a Google search on the name of a tropical bird you once saw, and within five hours, you will be bombarded with pop-up ads for flights to that country, and recipes for roasting that bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was once confusin\u2019, then amusin.\u2019 Then annoying. Then paranoia-inducing. Rightfully so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it was an easy step, especially in the Trump re-election and the plandemic, to be de-platformed, warned, censored, or \u2013 at Zuckberg\u2019s kindest \u2013 have our posts and messages and blogs slapped with banners pasted over our words with the announcement that \u201cindependent\u201d \u201cfact-checkers\u201d have \u201calready\u201d \u201creviewed\u201d the content and \u201cdetermined\u201d that\u2026 fill in the blanks. We are judged guilty of discussing unproven facts; or spreading rumors; or \u2013 worst of all \u2013 \u201cviolating community standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What \u201cstandards\u201d? What \u201ccommunity\u201d? Not a community we want to live in. Yet\u2026 here we are. From the guard towers, someone yells through a bullhorn: \u201cYou! In that blog post!!! Shut up, and get in line!\u201d Achtung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Headlines tell us enough. \u201cChristian hate\u201d and \u201cTrump\u2019s Lies\u201d are never conditioned with words like \u201calleged\u201d or \u201csupposed\u201d \u2013 just offered as \u201cfacts.\u201d A journalistic crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All this is bad enough \u2013 very<\/em> bad \u2013 as we surreptitiously are being fitted with ankle chains and GPS-location devices under our skin or by vaccines. But far worse is the censorship and cyber-persecution of Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost overnight, sermons about Biblical views on marriage and sex have had pastors arrested and churches closed. A religious perspective on topics in the news is deemed as \u201chate speech.\u201d Traditional hymns are condemned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And all this<\/em> is bad enough when the \u201ccommunity\u201d and press and government and schools and the courts are the storm troopers. But organized religion, heads of denominations, and \u201cmainstream\u201d faith leaders are often the worst offenders. Goons in backward-collars and robes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u201creligion\u201d itself imposes \u201cfacts\u201d on those of us they hate. (Aha! Now<\/em> we get to the real<\/em> \u201chate speech”!) The New Puritans are on witch-hunts, and their exclusive possession of Facts are their deadly weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, this all is a wake-up call to Christians and conservatives and patriots. Yes, we think we recognize the Truth, but we seek to persuade people, not cancel them. And in the largest sense \u2013 life is not about facts. The \u201ckeepers\u201d and enforcers of Facts ignore the history of Facts, even \u201cscientific facts,\u201d which often have changed and been proven untrue and abandoned through the centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More valuable is Truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can believe facts, even knowing they sometimes will change. We should trust Truth; and when it seems unclear, we are elevated by seeking truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compulsive fact-checkers, and weaponized fact-trusters, are the totalitarian-minded who have always plagued humanity. On the other hand, truth-seekers, and the hope-filled, have cared for humankind, and want to join the upward paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memo to you brainiacs who invent facts to control the lives of the rest of us: God does not require that we know and accept all your facts. He does require more important things: that we trust and obey. They<\/em> are the fastest pathways to Truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check that<\/em> fact, Jack. (And, if this helps, Jesus said, \u201cI am the Truth.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n