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Our current society thinks that it is entitled to all information about everything. I’m so sick of this attitude. Loose lips sink ships.

Let’s tell the truth. Too many of us draw conclusions about incidents based on a few reports/blog musings by persons often possessing no expertise and no first-hand information. Almost always, that conclusion supports their worldview based on extremely limited facts. Few of us stop to think that most of those offering opinions and writing about it make their living based on how much revenue their opinions generate. The more exciting the opinion the more money they make.

Objectivity is losing steam in the world of rapid information sharing. We sit and listen to speeches by politicians and after the speech we watch “the spin room” where reporters interview hacks that tell us what we just listened to ourselves. Reason is a dying art and “spin” is the flavor of the day.

Modern journalism is losing objectivity because it is often based on a left-right “equal spin” model. In fact, most journalists are nothing more than paid mouthpieces for one side or the other. The breaking news stories such as this flight are even worse. The disappearance of the plane is a fact. I think we agree that the blacking out of communications from the plane is a fact. Beyond those facts and a few “stories” about the pilots or passengers we know nothing. Everything else is pure speculation at this point, but there are lots of conclusions being made.

We all speculate and it’s entertaining and even helpful because it can sharpen our own ideas. However, we would be wise to remind ourselves that our speculation is based on very limited facts. At some point, all of us (myself included) can let speculation become our own version of reality absent facts. This desire to know everything quickly and trust a reporter to write it (or speak it) objectively is dangerous. There is a reason that plane crash investigations often take many months to complete and it’s not a conspiracy. Investigators examine everything and test their conclusions prior to releasing a final report that often receives little news coverage.

Just something to think about....