This was in my e-mail box from a Republican friend....
by
KnotaFrayed
10/07/2008, 12:35 AM #
Truth is dead, fear is in.
Winning has now come down to whoever can float the biggest lie about their opposition closest to the election and one that will not allow enough time for the debunk to get out and around. As Tickle Bob pointed out, the people polled in 16 out of 17 foreign nations polled wanted Obama to become the next U.S. president. Only South Africa, of those polled wanted John McCain. Perhaps a telling story right there.
It is not just business as usual in the down in the slime and mud game, but it is getting worse. America will get what it deserves, unless we wise up and stop buying into the lies and half truths tossed about by ANY party or campaign. We have just come through 8 years of either out and out lies or total incompetence when it came to be accurate on just about anything said. People may want their side to win, but many feel betrayed when they find out their side had to cheat and lie, (even to their own) to get ahead.
This e-mail I recieved was based on this and this was based on AIM ("Accuracy In Media") who tends to be as or more biased than those they blame for inaccuracies.
Communism is dead by it's own suicide and yet there are still people using McCarthy type tactics and tryiing to get people to believe Obama is a closet communist because of people he met in his life time. By that logic, John McCain is as much or more a communist by what he gave up to the communists and because his former communist jailer likes John McCain.
Obama is his own person and people need to be reminded that while his appearance and features are black, he is half white and grew up seeing not just black and white perspectives, but foreign perspectives. He has seen hardship and he has seen privilege.
Just as I have always preferred employees with well rounded life experience, not just specialized educational degrees, I prefer a president who comes from a diverse background that has formulated a character based on seeing the world and life from a variety of perspectives, not just one. Travel opens one's eyes to the reality of life and I'm not just talkiing about traveling to Disneyland. There are quite a few people in our nation who have not traveled far from where they were born, much less out of their county, state or nation and when they do travel abroad, quite a few look for what makes them feel at home, like McDonald's instead of immersing themselves in and educating themselves about other cultures. Basically human beings have the same basic desires and require the same basic needs in their society, trust being the major one. When something goes wrong, strangers are usually the first to be blamed because they represent the least trusted in any society, yet strangers may be as or more trustworthy than the societies they find themselves in, they just haven't been tested or their character is unknown. Allowed to stay, the "strangeness" of strangers fades away as people get to know them and their character. I believe if more Americans traveled the world and got a chance to interact with the people of other cultures, they would find that wars would be less easy to enter into.
Fear is an easy thing to generate and many who want to manipulate people based on fear are quick to use it as their tool.
The best defense against manipulators is to not simply accept what they say on face value, especially since it seems lying is no longer morally wrong. We all need to look behind the curtain and dig deeper for the truth, because it seems, so many people are willing to hide it or only tell half of it these days.
If we don't get a grip on the use of lying as a manipulative tools our nation will perish under the weight of its own lies and the destruction of its own society by the betrayal of trust.
The amazing thing about this modern age of computers and the internet is that lies can be spread quicky, but so can the truth, if we care about it. If we don't care about it, then why would anyone tell the truth anymore, even those who claim to be our friends? How do we know even our friends are lying to us simply to have an advantage over us or others? We can know if we care about the truth and call those who are not telling it on their lying or inaccuracies. It means we have to take the time to research available information and find where all parties usually in opposition, agree.
We are getting close to the universal agreement that the mudlinging is dragging our entire nation down into the mud, perhaps the quicksand. As long as we buy into it, they'll keep selling it.
Take care Gramps.
