Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. ---Albert Einstein
Quotes by the great physicist Albert Einstein have often appeared on this blog...I had to go back to make sure I hadn't yet used this one. There are many different ways to tackle today's quote: since we're entering a national-level election year in which the next US president will be chosen and the Congress is up for grabs, I thought I might steer that way today. A few years ago, I wrote an article here in which I threw out a challenge for those not only entrenched in their political beliefs but also who felt strongly about a politician or opinion maker, either positively or negatively. It was simply this: if you're strongly "pro" about a political idea or person, take a few minutes to come up with the other side...the same goes if you're strongly "con". One of my readers, a strong Trump supporter, answered in a comment that no, he simply could not come up with anything negative to say about his hero. And that, my friends, is how you go about throwing away the truth, for no one is perfect and no one is above criticism. If you tailor your news watching/listening to only the stations that espouse your own established predilections, then you are selecting your own authority as well. Republicans in this vein will go to FoxNews for their "truth" while Democrats tend to file over to MSNBC for their "authoritative" slant on the news. I will say this: from my perspective, whether you're on the political left or right with your beliefs, you need to step back a bit from the passion and manipulation being perpetrated on you by the media with your consent. Stand up for what you believe in, sure, but don't automatically demonize the opposition or their views...instead, learn to discern, that is, filter out the valid points from the crap and separate the person from their message. Not that anything I just wrote will happen: I just see more of this self-deceitful blind belief in authority just ratcheting up in the year to come...and beyond, sad to say...
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