WHO DO YOU TRUST?

Hi ………

I just viewed a so-called Political Roundtable, where the primary focus was on name calling and finger pointing by all of our current presidential hopefuls. It was a cacophony of he said-she said ramblings. In this age of the “open mike” nothing seems sacred. If you disagree with a statement, regardless of its’ obvious distortions, or ill-founded premises, you can easily find a source that will corroborate your contention. All this begs the question, what, or who, is really credible?

This brings to mind the early TV quiz show “Who Do You Trust?” The program pitted one person’s statement against opposing remarks; the idea to separate fact from fiction…….a dilemma that seems more prevalent today during these times of quick ad clips or “testimonials” for everything from nasal decongestants to hemorrhoidal cream. In years past, a doctor’s word was his bond. Nowadays, any shmuck in a white lab coat and a stethoscope around his or her neck, automatically implies that the sacred truth has been spoken.

This brings me to the point that more emphasis appears to be on the personality of the speaker vs. the message. And the entertainment value of something supersedes actual facts. Who do you believe? What do you believe? Remember the game we played as kids where you whispered a statement to someone next to you, who in turn whispered the message to the next person, and so forth down the line? The result was usually an unrecognizable distortion of the original remark. So it is today, with opinion often trumping fact. Are we in such a desperate quest for the truth that we resort to “personalities” such as Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, with their seemingly layered and filtered banter?

I don’t want to go “all negative on you”, but credibility is something that is hard earned, and even more difficult to maintain. The old adages of “question everything” of importance, and “get a second opinion,” holds true for me. Where are the likes of Morrow and Cronkite when we need them?

              - The Clutterman

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