You may not have met me, but if you are reading this, in a way, you know me. That you are choosing to take time to read is helping to support part of my mission in this life, and for that, I thank you.
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with me on any particular topic. What does matter is we are both seekers. We take time to wonder about the world around us rather than be robots who are fed their opinions by the media.
It seems to me that the mainstream media has lost its way, often choosing to present a polarized opinion rather than simply report the facts. So if we cannot depend on the major news outlets to be a reliable source for current events, then where do we look? For many, that source has become social media, but that comes with its own set of problems.
Social media serves a significant role in our society. It provides a vehicle for those who would otherwise never have a mainstream voice. But having a voice comes with the responsibility to be honest, present facts, or be candid that what you’re presenting is your opinion.
Social media as opposed to mainstream media, is in my opinion, the perfect venue, and for many the only venue, for the public expression of personal opinion. So, where is the problem with social media? I think it lies in not having to personally take credit for what you post. And that allows anyone to put out blatantly false information without regard for how it might injure or influence someone.
In the Cityview of the past, we published commentary-based articles in our pages. I often had readers call or write me to express their disagreement with something we published. Often, I would contact them and have a conversation to explore their views on the matter. In every case where they were offered the opportunity to write an opposing article for us to publish, however, they declined.
One hundred percent of the time it was because we require writers to take a by-line. Each time I asked why that was a problem, and each time the answer was similar, but followed a similar line: “I would get fired from my job,” “I would be shunned at my church,” or “My friends would hate me,” and on and on.
I called on my friend George Korda to see if he had similar experiences on his political talk show. George related that he frequently offers, but never once has anyone been willing to come on his radio show and openly debate an issue. Why would anyone work for, worship with, or socialize with people who would ostracize them for simply expressing an opinion is a mystery to me. We all have the right to our opinions and should be able to express it freely without fear of reprisal. And we should all be willing to sign our name to the opinions—or factual pieces—that we post.