by Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton
First thing this morning (7/6/23) I read that a (Trump-appointed) judge has ruled that the federal government cannot regulate content on social media because that would be an infringement of free speech (the 1st Amendment).
Then I happened across a video by Jessica Piper, a mother and former teacher who lives on a small farm on the Missouri/Iowa border. She ran unsuccessfully for the Missouri State Legislature last November but is still putting out her message and calls herself a Dirt Road Democrat. I quote:
“I want young people to know this … Republicans took away student loan forgiveness today … they took away affirmative action yesterday … and they took away your bodily autonomy a year ago. They banned books, they banned curriculum, they promote gun violence, they hate the LGBTQIA community, they don’t care about your wages or wage stagnation, they don’t care that you can’t afford healthcare, they don’t care that you can’t afford rent, much less a house or having kids. Republicans care about one thing. That’s their donors. So they’re always making sure that they’re taking care of the wealthy through tax credits. They don’t care about you. Remember that.”
So that’s her opinion. Her statements are too baldly general to be 100% reliable, but you can bet she can back up every one of those claims repeatedly with pretty solid evidence. So it’s opinion, but it’s not disinformation. Do all of us know the difference?
2024 is going to be a big voting year, and if we are responsible citizens of a responsible country (and state and county and city), we need to make our choices on the basis of solid evidence, not just our feelings or someone’s opinion or even what we see or read once in a media source. If we don’t have solid evidence for what we say, we are in effect bearing “false witness” – lying.
Please be responsible, especially for our young people. Oh, and please be kind, for all of us.