Circumspection in one’s Judgments

An individual (Let us call him Harry Hold-on; not the individual’s actual name…) wrote a letter – titled by the editor: “If Trump won’t disavow Putin, the rest of us must” to the editor @ the New Castle News and he cites – in his allotted 300 words (letter to editor limitation) – any number of reported facts regarding POTUS Trump and Vladimir Putin’s Helsinki Press conference. The individual seems to politically reside on the social-political Left, and thus seems to have fideist faith in the organs of the Mainstream Media… He mentions Robert Mueller’s indictments of Russians, the unquestionably evil deeds of Vladimir Putin, and Trump’s public deference to Putin in the Helsinki Press conference.

This individual closes his note with these lines: “I can only draw one conclusion. Putin somehow, someway owns Trump. This should be an American issue. Democrats be careful and stick just to the facts, Republicans accept the facts and put our country ahead of your party.”

Our response submitted a moment ago (titled by us) – also restricted to 300 words – is below…

 

Circumspection in one’s judgments

Shortly after my EOS (end-of-obligated-service) in the USN, a professor at SRU asked the class their opinion about what became known as the Iran-Contra-affair. Not content with voluntary answers – he began randomly asking students; when asking this writer, we responded: “I’ll need to listen to Dan Rather later…” His rejoinder: ‘Why your answer?’ My explanation was; ‘the only thing we know – unless involved – is what the Press reports; if they report uncolored facts, we may know something upon which one can rationally make a judgment. If the Press distorts reality, then what actions we take – predicated upon that information – may very well be detrimental to our interest and that of the USA…’

Media persons – generally, like most people – are subject to an overriding worldview of which they but vaguely aware, if at all. Some of the more educated and clever among us (let us call the modern ‘philosophers’ – read ideologues, whose ideology is, but a variant of nihilism) are quite aware the worldview, embrace it and utilize public ignorance to their manipulative advantage. So where do we go with this?
Harry Hold-on claims we “must disavow POTUS Trump,” because “Putin somehow, someway owns Trump.” And Mr. Hold-on has inside information which he appears too selfish to share with us rubes!
In the Trump, Putin Helsinki Press conference many people wanted Trump to angrily denounce Putin and give a full-throated validation of “Trump’s” intelligence/investigatory agencies – given the same agencies which have been working since before the 2016 election to deliver a mortal wound to Trump as candidate, and then President, renders his tepid support unreservedly reasonable! From whence did Mr. Hold-on get the idea that publicly denouncing Putin would stop Putin alter Putin’s behavior to the advantage of the USA?

Read paragraph 2!