September 21, 2012
Insightful
There are those who recently attended a County Commissioner meeting where
their whole purpose was to inflame public opinion and belittle the Commissioners.
One speaker admitted that a few days before he had put in a request for public information,
but he didn’t want to wait for the answers to come through the proper channels because
“wanted them answered in a public
meeting”. It is no coincidence that this is an election year and two of the
three commissioners are running for reelection. Whether in the Middle East or
in the United States, those who incite discord among the people today are no
different than those recorded in Scripture, “But
the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the
marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to
Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the
crowd.” (Acts 17:5 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Your observation fits 99% of the cases. In fact, it seems that we now live in a state of perpetual incitement feeding across the public mind like feedback through a sound system. Far too many folks do not arrive at opinions studiously. They feel their way there. So they become the targets of discord sowers. Then, the more discord is sown, the more generally agitated becomes the public emotional state. The more generally agitated is the emotional state, the more the public is responsive to incitement. The entire process needs neither one shred of evidence nor the truth. All it needs is a skillful agitator, a microphone, and a loudspeaker.
-----Al Sharpton, the media, and the racial hyper-sensitivity of the American populace provides the perfect example. In 1987, Al Sharpton was somewhat less a nobody than I am today, at least until a black, teenage girl named Tawana Brawley claimed she was raped by a gang of whites. Al Sharpton became her media spokesman. By spraying forth incendiary accusations everywhere to anyone who held either a microphone or a notepad, he injected her case onto the national stage as a racism crises. Her rape was later found to be an elaborate hoax. Stephen Pagones, an assistant district attorney continuously accused by Sharpton of the rape, sued Sharpton for libel and won. This should have ended any notoriety of the otherwise unknown Sharpton. But Sharpton was (and is) extraordinarily entertaining, sharp (no pun), and, of course “inciteful.” The public’s hyper-sensitivity to anything racist was the electrical mega-wattage driving the loudspeaker of the media. And, of course, the media plays completely by entertainment principles, therefore hindering rather than helping the public’s lack of educated insight. Upon this feedback process, the slippery Sharpton charges on to Rodney King, then to O.J. Simpson, then to the Florida recount, then to Terry Schiavo (even though neither of those two cases themselves struck a racist chord, ) and on to Gary Zimmerman, and everything in between and since. It has been Sharpton, Sharpton, Sharpton, not because he is right or logical, but because he delivers his rhetoric with all of the bursting entertainment of a New York fireworks display. The cameras love it. The public is incited. And discord then silence sane throats by the tyranny of its offspring - political correctness.
-----Al Sharpton is not alone in the category of “unnoteworthy” notoriety. Unfortunately, most all of the others populating his category are also discord inciters. If ever the loudspeakers played their vacant interiors, their popularity would implode. But then, loudspeakers are not made for evidence and truth. They are made for entertainment. So let’s face it, we who love the truth will temporarily lose, because entertainment is younger and faster. But then again, we don’t face what comes next. The truth may be slower, but it is older, and holds more assurance, that is, the keys to death. We win next and then never lose again.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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