I have a friend that listens to comedy shows to get the world news. They have been doing it for years. For years, I have responded to his or hers views with factual information that opposes or flips the perception of the sceneries. Then I always follow up with, “Politics are not positive or kind and sometimes it is better to leave our point of views to ourselves and not force others to jump on your bandwagon until you understand all the facts and perceptions.”

Then I usually get an insult from them like, “that’s why they’re famous and you’re not.”

Politics have never been kind. The are related to the other P word, you know Passion. When you put passion into politics you take out the common value of understand other’s perception.

I am not here to tell you are wrong if you get your news from Twitter, Facebook, Internet, comedy shows, print publications,  National Public Radio, government websites, Wikipedia or the dark web. I am just not that passionate. What I would like to say is if you value humanity. Then you must take heed in what you read, hear or see.

In college journalism class we were taught the rule of 3’s. You must have 3 three supporting sources from each side. Think about that…

To find 3 supporting documents from each side back in my day and age would take hours to find.  We had to look up magazine stories, microfiches, editorial news stories and educational publications. This took a lot of time. You spent hours researching, reading and reflecting on those facts which; in hence, could sometimes cause your own opinion to flip.

I am not saying you need to research every darn variable in our world, but big issues like global warming, taxes, health care and political views need  to researched. Do it for the future. Want to make the world a better place? It starts with one simple act of awareness.

Last, my father always told me never trust anyone 100%. We are humans. We are flawed. We are not a computer following an algorithm; instead, we are passionate and emotional.  Thus being human means we need to check what we read, hear or see to make certain we are acting on facts not emotions.

Love

JCV