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Introduction
Both sides of the police accountability discussion are using their agendas to sift, sort, and alter the facts.
That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode.
Continuing
Derek Chauvin, 45, was convicted on all counts in the George Floyd case, including two counts of murder, and is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. Cries of “He did not get a fair trial,” and, “Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s back, not his neck,’ still echo.
Sixteen year old Ma’Khia Bryant, had just attempted to attack a woman with a large knife, when she was lunging toward a second woman with the same knife, attempting to plunge it into her intended victim when she was fatally shot by white Officer Nicholas Reardon. All three women are black. Loud criticisms of “Hey it was just a knife fight,” and, “He could have shot her in the leg,” are rife in the media.
All of these contrived positions are designed to forward different agendas, with no regard for either the facts or the consequences.
“Believe your eyes,” was loudly and often encouraged when referring to the George Floyd murder video. The video of the attempted murder rescue by Officer Reardon was just as clear, albeit brief. Any kind of fairness standard, any belief in consistency in logic and reasoning demands that if you accept one video because it supports your position, then you must accept the other–even if it does not.
I have been a committed, professional blogger and podcaster for over three years, with the goal of growing in my ability to communicate and persuade. I want to grow as a podcaster with better and better content, and explode my audience. Even with this growing commitment, it is very hard for me to see self-centered agendas, supported by willful ignorance, drive out truth, fairness and logical consistency.
Just as bad money drives out good money, bad thinking drives out good thinking. In economics, Gresham’s law states that “bad money drives out good”. For example, if there are two forms of money in circulation, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear. People will hold onto the form of money which is inherently more valuable, and spend the other money with the same face value. Forgetting the language of economists, I remember when Canadian money was not uncommon here in the US. If anyone had gotten stuck with a Canadian quarter, worth less than a US quarter, but still advertised as a quarter of a dollar, they would try to pass it as quickly as they could. Keeping any US quarters in their pockets.
Bad thinking drives out good thinking, but in a different way. Bad ideas, bad thinking, is easy. Just grab a hold of an idea, a cliche or political sound byte, and go with it. And if challenged, just repeat it. If the challenger has the nerve to present you with facts and logic that counter your adopted position, no worries–you can handle this. Start with doing what some people do when a person does not speak their language and they still want to be understood; they speak more slowly and louder. When that does not work, because it can’t, they start throwing their arms around, treating the other person like an idiot. Again, the same tactics apply here. If slow and loud does not work, then just accuse them of being a racist, or a libtard; a transphobe or a commie. Throw in a few fictitious studies, claim your rights, and announce that “This is America” as if that should end the discussion. And like a drunk who will fight until he passes out, no matter how badly he is being beaten by a skilled, sober fighter, the people with the fact free thinking will simply keep at it, ignoring all presented facts and logic, and will never quit until the other person just up and stops trying to be heard. Example: take a look at a few well articulated posts on controversial topics on Twitter. Then look at the countering responses. Very often you will see a parade of “drunk” comments, most often posted anonymously. And don’t even think about responding to one of them. Take my word for what will happen, and save yourself the frustration of self-discovery.
Unless we stop it, self-centered, agenda driven thinking will drive out fact-based, common goals thinking. All of us, at least I, need to stick a yardstick up our tailfeathers, call it a backbone, and get on with it.
Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder. Together we must fight the kind of thinking that supports dangerous nonsense like:
Officer Reardon is a hero, the exact opposite of an example of racist policing. With less than 9 seconds to act after leaving his vehicle, he did exactly the right thing. Together we must fight the kind of thinking that supports dangerous nonsense like:
The list of embarrassingly stupid–and dangerous–reactions to both events is vitrully endless. It is awkward and infuriating to watch people contort their thinking to support their agendas. We must stay strong, committed and overcome them.
We’ll close with some related thoughts:
Where do you stand? What are you going to do? Remember, it does not matter where you stand if you don’t do anything.
As always, whatever you do, do it in love. Without love, anything we do is empty. 1 Corinthians 16:14
Contact
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Will Luden, coming to you from 7,200’ in Colorado Springs.
