Thursday, August 23, 2012

SOCRATES EXPLAINED CAMPAIGN LYING IN ANCIENT GREECE


Today, though others may have mentioned it, for the first time I heard a journalist.talk show host question why the media is handling things in a 'business-as-usual ' way when it is clear that speakers a lying.  He indicated that he was ashamed of behaving in contradiction to everything he had been taught as a journalist.  What was missing in his statement was why he does it.  It seems to be the order of the media channels of the day.  Forget the truth, keep the audience coming back and making the channel money.  Forget the ethics of your profession.  If you want the pay check, follow the channel rules.

Socrates was forced to drink poison for his pursuit of truth while the rich leaders did not find it went along with their wish to deceive the citizens,  Some things don't change in human nature and the process that greedy people develop.  This is an interesting article about history of lies back to ancient Greece.

Quoted from this article: The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth could only begin once they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction and logic, it should be kept. If it doesn’t, the belief should not only be discarded, but the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous information in the  first place. Not at all surprising was the fact that this type of teaching didn’t go very well with the ruling elite of Greece. Many political leaders throughout history have always sought to mislead the thinking of the masses. Socrates was tried for “subversion” and for “corrupting the youth”. He was then forced to take his own life by drinking poison. 

Throughout history it has never been easy being an independent thinker!  Robert F Kennedy, Jr wrote an article a bit more than a year ago on  the reason Fox Cable News is not allowed in Canada because of the number of lies they tell.  (Bravo, Canada!) Canada considers them as delivering false and misleading news  

Lastly, an interesting article on truth and the media, commentaries from many we may know and respect. .

1 comment:

Frank J. Lhota said...

Canada's speech restrictions have a dark side. The Canadian laws banning hateful or extreme speech have been used to limit Canadian discussions of important issues. For example, consider the Danish Muhammad cartoons. The only Canadian publication that published these cartoons was the Western Standard, in 2006. For its efforts, this magazine spent three years in court fighting charges of publishing religious hatred, almost causing the magazine to go under. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Christopher Hitchens were appalled that the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission basically enforced the Imams' charge of blasphemy. Since then, the Canadian Press has been more timid in its criticism of Islam.

Canada also bans sexist speech. Amazingly enough, this ban covers the works of feminists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin.

Would these speech codes work any better in U.S.? Consider the 1992 Randy Weaver shooting. Most contemporary accounts echoed the government story; only a few of the more fringe publications looked into alternatives. Just this last week, the FBI finally responded to some Freedom on Information Act requests on this case. Among the documents released was an FBI field report highly critical of the operation, pointing out that the combination of poor planning, use of inexperienced agents, and failure to follow proper rules of engagement resulted in the unnecessary death of Weaver's nine year old son. Our government kept this secret for 20 years. Call me skeptical, but am I to trust this same government to tell me which accounts of events such as this are truthful?