Posted on 03/28/2020 9:44:56 AM PDT by rebuildus
I publish a health, fitness, and culture blog. These are lifetime passions of mine.
Like most people, I have my political opinions, but I try to keep them away from the blog. I want to help everybody who seeks it; and don’t want to alienate people who may not agree with some of my non-related views.
But the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed all that.
Like it or not, the Coronavirus situation has fused health and politics, due to the massive governmental response necessary to contain the virus. As a natural health and fitness proponent, I feel a need to provide the best advice possible to help people cope with this unprecedented situation.
So here we are. My main points of agreement with the President have been his original travel ban from China, his Tweet promoting a treatment combination that had incredible—though limited—results in France…
“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine…”
—President Donald Trump, March 21, 2020
…the President’s hope that the virus may fade as the weather heats up, as happened with the SARS outbreak, and his desire that we potentially re-open the U.S. economy by Easter (aptly named “Resurrection Day”) so that we do not kill off our economy while trying to kill off the disease.
But supporting the President on this has not come without blowback. Some of it is coming from within my own family.
One family member asked me how I could support the President, that he’s a “racist,” (funny, I never heard this until he decided to run for President) that he “incites,” and “what kind of an a—hole does this?”, referring to a Huffington Post article, “Trump Rejects New York’s Plea for Ventilators: ‘I Don’t Believe You Need That Many.”
The article was typical media sensationalism, as the President did not “reject” New York’s “plea”—he merely questioned the numbers, which shouldn’t be a shock, as the request came from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a vociferous Trump critic, who has been spending a great deal of time trying to shift the blame for his own role in setting this crisis up through creating a sanctuary state, where untold numbers of illegal aliens have flooded into New York unchecked.
In addition, thousands of ventilators were reportedly found in storage in the state. Uh, I think you should check that, Mr. Governor!
One family member sent me a point-by-point “refutation” of some of my comments supporting the President and his Coronavirus response. So I sent back a point-by-point refutation of their “refutation.”
I didn’t ask for this fight. It came to me because I defended and supported this President’s actions. I’m not trying to escalate it either, but I refuse to withdraw my support. In this case, I know I am right.
So why did I title this post, “Why You’re Wrong When You Think You Are Right”? Because, in dealing with the blowback, I realized that when people attack, there are commonalities within the attack that render it somehow… lacking. What is that lack?
Now keep in mind, these are intelligent people. Often they have more “facts” on hand than I do; or have more expertise in a topic than I have. I freely admit that. And they often do state a number of likely true facts. So what’s the problem?
The problem is not the facts they state, but the key ones they overlook!
Selective facts…
I was studying some math last night and realized that this is the problem! Discussions and even arguments are essentially a math problem: If we put the correct numbers into the equation, we will come up with the correct answer!
But if we omit key numbers, we cannot come up with the right answer!
And not all facts are created equal: For instance, President Trump’s early decision to ban travel from China was a huge weapon in fighting the spread of Coronavirus in the United States.
And conversely, New York Gov. Cuomo’s decision to make his state a “sanctuary” for illegal aliens severely hampered his chances of effectively combatting Coronavirus before he even got started. No amount of finger-pointing will change this fact.
So why would a person leave out pertinent facts about a person or situation as they list other facts? I think we all know the answer to that—usually because they hate one person—and attempt to show them in a bad light; or “love” another person—and attempt to show them in a good light. It’s really that simple.
Now I’m not claiming to be immune from this quirk of human nature—I do support the job the President is doing here, as do most Americans. And in my support, I admit that the desire to omit facts is a temptation.
But I do not believe I am omitting any known facts in order to support my view.
I do know that there is a high level of hatred out there among a sizeable minority for this President. It’s driven by the media, who love controversy, and who in large numbers oppose this President politically.
This level of hatred is as dangerous as it is unwarranted, in my opinion. I also believe much of it is driven by ego—by those who “know better” than an essentially simple man who is a throwback to another era, an era that did not worry about “political correctness” or safe spaces, nor did it hide its belief in a supreme God and traditional values.
Decades of attacks on these values have, I’m sad to say, left America without a firm moral rudder. This is what this President represents (and please spare me the—”He did this,” “said this,” etc. I’m talking about his performance as President). In short, he represents those of us who refuse to go along with new (in my opinion) valueless “values.”
And this is why they feel they must stop him. The way to do that is to mold the American mind—not with obvious lies— but by arguing with facts, while omitting other weighty facts, so that the picture is not complete, the equation does not add up.
I, for one, will do my best to include all the pertinent facts in coming to my conclusions. One family member told me essentially, that I am in a minority with my views. That may or may not be true. Often, a game is played that tries to make us feel we are isolated; as if that would prove there is something wrong with us. I don’t care if I am in a group of one or many. Right is right and wrong is wrong!
So let the best facts win!
I used to be somewhat intimidated by those with “superior facts.” Now I realize that their facts may or may not add up to the actual answer. If they add up, great, we celebrate. If not, I present the missing pieces they either don’t know or what they don’t find convenient to admit.
If I need to be educated to complete the equation, then that’s fine too. The less ego is a decider, and the more truth is the decider, the better. This was once the case in America.
I hope at some point, that this truth wins the day once again.
We’d all be better off. Especially in a crisis.
To your health and fitness…
Patrick Rooney is the Founder of OldSchoolUs.com. Its focus is natural health and independent living. Patrick is the author of GREEK PHYSIQUE: The Simple, Satisfying Way to Sculpt Your Body—Even if You’re Old, Weak, or Broken Down; and is also the creator of Greek Yoga™ and the Greek Yoga for Beginners video. He offers health and fitness consulting in-person in Middle Tennessee and worldwide via phone, Zoom, and Skype. To reach Patrick, email him at info@oldschoolus.com.
The entire political battlefield in the United States now is the selective omission of critical facts.
My rule of thumb now is if I catch you omitting critical facts, anything that comes out of your mouth or your Media station can be ignored in the future - while I flip you off to your lying face.
Thank you, kiryandil. I couldn’t agree more. This hit me last night—that this is the way the battle is waged. Just telling out and out lies is too obvious, and also leaves entities open to lawsuits.
There is some popular(?) YouTube Video out there attacking POTUS Trump taking his comments out of context and using creative splicing and dicing to make it look like he is to blame for all this crap.
Unfortunately, I have seen people who I thought were sane buying it hook, line and sinker. They go so far as saying they would Vote for ANY Rat in November over Reelecting POTUS Trump.
If I can find the link I will Post it. No time right now.
For years, when I have my fun by exposing the “science” of climate change pushed by the science-illiterate MSM, my fave phrase is “Math is not a friend of liberals.”
During this crisis, I can only state QED to the above phrase.
I do not intend to underestimate the seriousness of the present pandemic, but before one can take action, one has to gather facts.
Facts: Listen to the media. Multiply by 0.0001. That’s the portion of real facts you’re going to hear.
Why? Because journalists.
You cannot reason with a liberal. I can reasonably change my mind given facts and what I see with my own eyes, liberals can’t. It is all about feelings to them and they skew the ‘facts’ to mean whatever it takes to fuel their feelings.
“The entire political battlefield in the United States now is the selective omission of critical facts.”
I don’t think that’s anything new. The internet and cable “news” has highlighted it.
Nor is it surprising, after all politics is about self interest on a large scale, and everyone is constantly looking to promote what they perceive is in their self interests.
What's new is the "factcheck" that is not a fact check.
Remember anyone ever "fact-checking" the foetid piece of lying Muslim dogsqueezins, Æthelblack the Unready?
Never.
Put a little more bluntly, lying by omissin.
You can tell right from wrong. Whoever hides the Truth is wrong. Whoever reveals the Truth is right.
When the press refuses to cover the President live for public consideration, they hide the Truth and fail in their mission to be honest brokers.
But the Truth always wins.
It's really true. If you say something that refutes their argument, their eyes glaze over, they look off to the side a little, and then come back with an entirely different argument or topic. It's like a sideways slide to launch a new attack, and they don't process what you said at all. I have literally seen their eyes just "go away" for a moment, and when they start again, it's like what you said does not exist.
Bkmk
So true.
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