Some memes

possibility that i do not always know what is best for myself and those around me, create an opportunity for me to be a bit more open-minded. as i was going to write this before i went out for my run this morning and decided it was getting to hot outside to defer my workout. it was hot, not brutally, but certainly hot enough to make my run much slower and rougher than it needed to be. what i got out of that run, other than a calorie and water deficit was the notion that echoes of my “know it all” persona, still exist and have the tendency to rise when i least expect them to. in fact, i made a joke in my daily gratitude bit i share with one of the men who call me their sponsor, texting “on the off chance i am wrong, i am grateful that i can be open-minded enough to accept correction!”
in my current reality, i am seldom wrong, but that is not because i am wiser or smarter than anyone else, it is because i choose to listen to those around me and take the opportunities they present to examine my current beliefs, knowledge and opinions. i am open-minded enough to carefully examine those opportunities and see if they fit into the real world or if mine still suffice. last night at work, i made myself busy as two customers and my co-worker went on and on about the latest conservative dog whistles tropes and misinformation that they have been fed by the right wing media and the current occupant of the White House. i so wanted to tell them how fucking wrong they were, even as i took to opportunity to listen to their discussion. unfortunately, none of them said anything but the predigested pablum they get from their echo chambers. ironically the more the fed each other their particular favorite sound bites the louder they got, even though they were all saying the exact same shit. i gotta admit that i had a chuckle or two at their expense.
moving into the here and now, i know that today, as i return to the scene of the crime, i will hear the exact same sound bites, straw men and ad hominem arguments. what i need to do, is listen for the wisdom they may contain and understand that when one allows the media to do their thinking for them, one loses any semblance of rational or intelligent thought. i understand that i too, listen to an echo chamber and i cannot say mine is any more true than theirs. what i can say, is that when something seems too outrageous or incongruent to be true, i do actual research. that research seeks facts, not opinions and i never use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Truth Social or YouTube as my sources. no i seek actual sources that may bend the truth one way or another, but in the long run, present the facts. i have enough critical thinking skills to see the bend and evaluate the source correctly. i have to wonder why they no longer provide critical thinking skills as part of public education. my theory? the oligarchs suppressed it so they could control the masses through their media meat puppets. and yes that is opinion and not fact. if the m asses used their minds and critically looked at what they were being presented, the revolution would have already been televised.

∞ DT ∞