Media and Thoughts for January 22, 2017
So starts the four-year fight between Trump and the news media. Principle 1: The news media has no compunction about hiding the truth. They report what they like. What they report is truthful (or should I say based on fact) but only the truth they want to present, which might then by its very nature be perceived in an untrue way. Cue the story of the blind men and the elephant.
I listen to NPR a good bit but roll my eyes a good bit, too. This past week they said they would be covering the inauguration and fact-checking the speech. Oh, please. Did they ever fact check President Obama? They are so obviously out to "gotcha" on Trump and his administration, some of which seem to be really good people. I hope they are taking the jobs to help our country through the trial of having him as president.
However, Trump deserves to be fact checked. He seems to believe that saying things enough times makes it true. Magical thinking, maybe?
But I for one don't want every news headline to be about the news media and Trump fighting. It will only lower the news media's already abysmally low credibility rating. It will only give the news media more reason not to report the real news of what's going on in the world, which sometimes I don't think they want to do anyway. Cue my go-to story of how NBC news spent two minutes on the UN finally admitting to human rights abuses in North Korea but five minutes on Jimmy Fallon taking over the Tonight Show. Yeah.
I taught Daniel 2 and 3 this morning, and couldn't help but feel that Daniel, Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael were working for a T***p like kind of guy, Nebuchadnezzar. Definitely erratic. Interesting, in Daniel 3 Nebbie only wanted his officials to bow down to the image (I figure he got the idea of the big statue from his dream in Daniel 2) not the whole populace. It was a loyalty test (I have to sign a loyalty oath to the state of Georgia, but it only requires not be unethical and spend the state's money wrongly). I don't think he expected the Jews whom he had promoted to be a problem.
So inspiration for the day: Be a problem to someone. Maybe we will see God work.
"But if not . . . " Their short speech is one of the greatest in the Bible. Most of the great speeches of the Bible are pretty short. "Choose you this day,. . . " "How long halt ye between two opinions?. . . ."
The deliverance of the three was a miracle. End of story. I saw a piece on the History Channel (never go to the History Channel for your theology, by the way) about how it worked that they were able to get out of that furnace. Uh, no.
Let us pray for a miracle in our president, because if he governs wisely it will only be because of miraculous answers to prayer.
Another media alert: We are told that the march yesterday was the biggest in the history of the world. Really? Sure, there were protests in other parts of the world, but how could they possibly know that it was the biggest? Considering how the media never reports on the marches against Roe v. Wade, which draws hundreds of thousands, I would doubt their counting ability.
Finally, I am slowly watching The Crown on NetFlix. Awfully good. What an arse Edward was! So wonderful that we were delivered from that fool. People of my generation like and respect the Queen, although monarchy is so strange.
I listen to NPR a good bit but roll my eyes a good bit, too. This past week they said they would be covering the inauguration and fact-checking the speech. Oh, please. Did they ever fact check President Obama? They are so obviously out to "gotcha" on Trump and his administration, some of which seem to be really good people. I hope they are taking the jobs to help our country through the trial of having him as president.
However, Trump deserves to be fact checked. He seems to believe that saying things enough times makes it true. Magical thinking, maybe?
But I for one don't want every news headline to be about the news media and Trump fighting. It will only lower the news media's already abysmally low credibility rating. It will only give the news media more reason not to report the real news of what's going on in the world, which sometimes I don't think they want to do anyway. Cue my go-to story of how NBC news spent two minutes on the UN finally admitting to human rights abuses in North Korea but five minutes on Jimmy Fallon taking over the Tonight Show. Yeah.
I taught Daniel 2 and 3 this morning, and couldn't help but feel that Daniel, Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael were working for a T***p like kind of guy, Nebuchadnezzar. Definitely erratic. Interesting, in Daniel 3 Nebbie only wanted his officials to bow down to the image (I figure he got the idea of the big statue from his dream in Daniel 2) not the whole populace. It was a loyalty test (I have to sign a loyalty oath to the state of Georgia, but it only requires not be unethical and spend the state's money wrongly). I don't think he expected the Jews whom he had promoted to be a problem.
So inspiration for the day: Be a problem to someone. Maybe we will see God work.
"But if not . . . " Their short speech is one of the greatest in the Bible. Most of the great speeches of the Bible are pretty short. "Choose you this day,. . . " "How long halt ye between two opinions?. . . ."
The deliverance of the three was a miracle. End of story. I saw a piece on the History Channel (never go to the History Channel for your theology, by the way) about how it worked that they were able to get out of that furnace. Uh, no.
Let us pray for a miracle in our president, because if he governs wisely it will only be because of miraculous answers to prayer.
Another media alert: We are told that the march yesterday was the biggest in the history of the world. Really? Sure, there were protests in other parts of the world, but how could they possibly know that it was the biggest? Considering how the media never reports on the marches against Roe v. Wade, which draws hundreds of thousands, I would doubt their counting ability.
Finally, I am slowly watching The Crown on NetFlix. Awfully good. What an arse Edward was! So wonderful that we were delivered from that fool. People of my generation like and respect the Queen, although monarchy is so strange.
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