Yes - certain FReepers seem to be in a big hurry to throw people under the bus.
They think it makes them look smart, I guess. By making sure they are among the first to declare someone is deep state or “compromised”, they can avoid appearing naive if that person turns out to be a disappointment.
I think I’d rather give people the benefit of the doubt - I don’t mind looking like a fool if my trust turns out to have been misplaced.
I was wrong about George Bush. I was wrong about Jeff Sessions. I was wrong about Bill Barr. I was wrong about Mike Pence... but I was right about Ronald Reagan and I was right about Donald Trump.
So, I don’t regret trusting and hoping... without hope the world would be... hopeless.
thanks for your response.
we all fall short of the truth in this area, being human and having to deal with our own corrupt flesh. but, imo, you can improve, to the point that you will rarely be wrong about people and their character. imo, i have correctly judged all the politicians you mention, and wasn’t fooled by any of them. i’ve been fooled by others of course, including many like rubio and noem whom i gave money as part of the tea party movement based on advice from just one or a very few sources of information (i.e., republican pundits and mainline conservative media). hint: don’t do that.
there is one source of ultimate truth. that is God. there is once source of falsehood (mixed truth with falsehood), that’s the devil. the revelation of God is in the Bible. so to the extent you are steeped in God’s word, you are less liable to be mislead.
for those with God, the truth has three sources, direct revelation, faith and discernment through experience (learned or direct). what you learn can be false too.
for those without God, only discernment through experience is the only source available.
an honest judge, who judges falsely does so because they haven’t overcome two sources of error in their thought processes to the extent necessary to make a correct judgement in a particular case.
1. bias that arises from ignorance of the case.
2. bias that arises from a creed or belief system that mixes some truth with it’s falsehoods which leads them on a path to this error. some people call that confirmation bias.
if you know yourself sufficiently, you can take steps to avoid the above biases. basically, the Bible advises that you consult many witnesses (direct experience), have many counselors (who are in themselves unbiased), and avoid bias in you’re own thinking. and Jesus further states that you should not judge if you can’t overcome these limitations. good advice indeed. those steps are a book of their own of course.
long comment already, that’s enough.