A blog about life as seen by a retired Middle School Science Teacher from California
Author: Bruce Halen
I am a retired Middle School Science Teacher that loves to sing, ride bicycles and write. I am a Unitarian Universalist by religion and thrive on exercise to keep mentally and physically healthy and happy. I am an Ovo-Lacto vegetarian.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
It’s been over a year now that I have led my posts on Singing Cyclist Musings with the above summary of how to deal with disinformation. The story, “Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation,” Alexandra Witze presents five strategies for dealing with “bad” information.
So, let’s start with the word bad. My idea of “bad” might not be your idea of “bad.” Who gets to decide? Ultimately it is us, the individuals who get to make that decision. In an idyllic world where Democracy is the chosen political system, this would be the end of the story. Case closed, that’s all folks, let’s move on and that’s that.
There are primarily two reasons why the individual is not the gate keeper of good and bad. One is education. The best way to maintain a democratic system of government is by maintaining an educated and discerning population of people by offering free public education at all levels to teach us all how to think and not what to think. With the individual brain trained to identify bear scat from bullshit, misinformation/disinformation will fall on deaf ears.
Two happens when we have one. The individuals, TV networks, YouTube channels, Twitter feeds, email distribution lists and what all will not be able to spread their bullshit because there simply is no audience for it. By educating our fellow citizens, we don’t need number two.
So, there is one and only one way to determine good from bad, true from false and if I may be so bold, right from wrong. Get informed.
We don’t have time to wait for free public education for all, so you personally can start by looking at the five points in the first box up yonder. All five are important, but I suggest that the second point is the one to start with.
Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience rather than accomplishing your goal which is to share accurate information.
My wife and I were visiting with a friend while on an evening walk. Another neighbor was visiting along with her dog. The conversation was cordial and polite and remained so as the dog enjoyed her treats when the conversation went to why she and her family were moving to Texas. She said that they were moving to a state that was more supportive of parents rights and where the schools didn’t “sexualize” students.
My wife and I are both retired California public school teachers. Neither of us flinched or changed expression as my wife asked the follow-up question that led to the response.
It wasn’t the time or place to engage in a deeper conversation. But one thing that I noticed in my own mind as this interaction was happening and in its aftermath, was an instant and thankfully fleeting feeling of defensiveness followed by a feeling of wanting to share a different perspective on teaching. We did share that we were teachers and the conversation seamlessly went on to a different topic.
Once she left, we had a brief conversation with our friend and shared how unfortunate it is that this conversation will not be completed because a decision was made to go to your silo and not engage in the further conversation that might have some influence on your feelings about public school and teachers.
My long winded point is that we did not stigmatize this person for her beliefs. The training that I got from Mom and Dad reinforced by my education kicked in. This is so important in helping us “get to 100.”
Change can and will happen in this country when we listen to each other without judgement. Which is why I’ll end this with a song. Headphones or earbuds will dramatically improve your listening experience. It’s also ok without them.
“How Can I Keep From Singing” Performed by the Alegria Singers of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose. Sound engineering and arrangement by John M. Ector. First performed in a Combination Live and Zoom service on June 19, 2022.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Retirement hasn’t been quite what I expected it to be. I had expected to roughly divide my time up evenly between volunteering and service to the community , recreation, reading and writing. COVID messed up the division of time formula.
It also messed up how I was going to spend my volunteer and service time. I’ve spent considerably more time volunteering with my church basically because those opportunities didn’t go away with COVID and the church always needs volunteers. I have not done nearly as much work on outdoor and science education, although that is starting to change as we figure out how to live with COVID.
In case you hadn’t yet noticed, I am a radical. My radicalism can be tempered to simmer below the surface where it is essentially invisible. That’s where it has been for most of my life. That has been gradually changing over the past 15 years The radicalism is sort of like the Earth Science concept of vulcanism. Molten hot rock rises through the Earth and some of it eventually reaches the surface in the form of a volcanic eruption. Sometimes the eruptions are relatively calm and sometimes (ask the people of Pompeii) they are more explosive.
I’m still singing, bicycle riding, backpacking, golfing, hiking, reading and writing and stuff like that. But there is an element that figures to eat into a bigger chunk of my retirement time now.
Being a revolutionary.
Revolutionary in the model of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Meredy decided that this evening would be a good time to revisit Justice Ginsburg’s documentary film “The Notorious RBG.” How appropriate to revisit the life and work of RBG.
Revolutionary in the spirit of our founding fathers almost 250 years ago. The same founding fathers that drafted the Constitution that the current Supreme Court has decided to re-write in it’s own image.
Just as the Bible and the great religious scriptures of the world are meant to be living, breathing documents that incorporate the timeless wisdom of their composers, so too is the Constitution of these great United States of America. It’s words, so carefully drafted, were meant to grow with this young nation. The words were not put to paper lightly.
This Supreme Court, for reasons that I do not know, has chosen to turn its back on Democracy and its vital institutions and precedents. It has turned its back on the Constitution. The time for us to speak up is now. Justice RBG was an outwardly quiet and reserved person for most of her life in the law as a lawyer and a judge. Toward the end of her life and career, she became outwardly vociferous in her dissents of Supreme Court rulings that she felt were wrong headed. In the spirit of the revolutionaries that founded this country, she fought for what she believed in. This week’s rulings on guns and women’s rights were appalling. Would would RBG have done?
I intend to do what I know she would be doing. I will follow in her example and speak up and take the actions that I believe to be right. I cannot sit idly by and watch my country be dismantled before my eyes. With my Dad’s 19 year old Army Air Corps eyes looking over my shoulder, I’m going to continue to do his work in making the United States of America a better place for all of our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and for all subsequent generations to come.
Fight like hell to preserve it. That is my retirement job…for now at least.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Back in the now that I look back it I didn’t have a clue days. The ones where I was 18 going on eight or 20 going on 10, I fancied myself a journalist. You might recognize that those ages coincide nicely with the high school and college daze.
I was a decent writer and journalism offered opportunities to write. So, I thought I might like to be a journalist. That was the level of my thinking when I was 18 going on eight or 20 going on 10.
So, when I graduated with some good newspaper and yearbook instruction in my tool kit from Miss Pam Pillsbury at Mt. Whitney High School, I decided to call myself a Journalism major at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA. At 18 going on eight , when going away to school meant going to the Junior College two blocks from home, I called myself a Journalism major.
I had good experiences at COS in publications (newspaper and yearbook). I don’t remember exactly why I changed my mind except that my incredible Journalism instructor Mr. Claud Snelling was murdered while confronting an intruder in his home. I don’t know if it was because I had another awesome teacher at COS, this time in Geography. I fell in love with Geography and went on to eventually get a BA in Geography from Fresno State.
After that it was completing all the coursework for a Masters in Community and Regional Planning at CSUFresno before somehow deciding that I didn’t want to do the thesis to finish the degree. A case of 22 going on 12, I guess.
A few years later after over 30 years in public education, I look back at what might have been if I had actually become a Journalist. I have started to write again. Not super stuff, not the investigative stuff of Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate, not the work being. done by the pros at the New York Times and others, but writing. I find it cathartic.
I also find that I have more respect for those that have made journalism their career. Good investigative truth telling with the five W’s, facts and evidence to back your thesis. The good journalism that Miss Pillsbury and Mr. Snelling tried to teach me back when I was 18 going on eight and 20 going on 10. Thanks Miss P and Mr. S for teaching me the importance of fact and truth in writing news articles for “The Pioneer” and whatever we called the paper at COS. Maybe my editor at COS will refresh my memory.
My message? Tell the truth, speak the truth, recognize the truth, live the truth. Don’t settle for anything less.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
It’s been awhile since I last posted anything. For some of you, that’s probably a relief. Others might actually have missed my musings. Whichever one of those you are, I’m baaack.
The last six weeks of Spring were busy. I worked as a substitute teacher at Cabrillo, my former school of 20 years . Most of the 35 days that I worked during the 2021-22. school year were between February and May. I had a two week gig working with the Band and Orchestra kids getting ready for their Spring Concert. That was particularly fun as I got to be on the other side of the waving baton.
My volunteer work at the Unitarian Church also picked up. Virtual recording for the choir and in person small group singing in the Sanctuary occupied many hours as well as serving on the Interim Minister Search Committee and working on the Tech Team that is responsible for making worship and special event services accessible via Zoom.
So, time for writing has been at a premium. There is so much to say, but I’m going to ease my way back into it. Here are a few topics that I have jotted in my notebook for possible future posts:
1. Jesus Toppling Merchants Tables on the Temple Mount
2. Conflict/Trauma and the Interim Minister Search Process
3. Teaching a lesson on Penguin and Whale Identification in a 2nd Grade
classroom days after the Uvalde school massacre.
4. Why all the unnecessary human caused chaos? (Climate Change, COVID,
Race, gun violence)
5. Smoke and Mirrors: How Fascists, Fossil Fuel Companies, Racists and Religious
Extremists are using disinformation to destroy Democracy
6. H.O.P.E.: Which of these versions would you choose?
a. Hopelessness, Oppression, Pessimism, Enmity
OR
b. Happiness, Opportunity, Pride, Enthusiasm
7. Gun Violence and the lack of resolve to act on it
I’m very concerned about the upcoming mid-term elections in November. If history is followed and the party in the White House gets bounced out in the Congress, we as a nation are in deep shit. The chances of 6a. above becoming the reality is a very real possibility.
My feeling, that has only strengthened since the emergence of the puppet Trump, is that this is the right wing’s last gasp to maintain its old world order. Rich, White and powered by fossil fuel.
Stay tuned as I continue to shine a light into the darkness.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
One of your fellow readers suggested some common sense actions that can be taken including these two. If you think of any others, please share them with me and I will share them with my readership. Thanks, Bruce
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
When you are finished with your thoughts and prayers, direct your full attention and energy to the United States Senate. They need to pass Background Check legislation approved by the House three years ago as H.R. 8.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Composer Kurt Bestor composed this song based on the effect that this tragic civil war between Bosnians, Croatians and Serbians was having on the children of the region. The civil war occurred in the aftermath of the death of Yugoslavia’s strongman president Josef Tito in 1980 and continued into the mid 1990’s. Read more about it by following this link to the story behind “Prayer of the Children” found on Mr. Bestor’s website.
I first sang this song in the mid 1990’s with the Bakersfield Masterworks Chorale. It brought the war home to me. Even though it was in a distant far off land that I knew almost nothing about, the tune and the words were forever to be etched in my memory as a singer and as a human being. The BMC performance of this piece was a live performance. I sang it with tears streaming town my face while makings every effort that I could to produce the sound and words that would give our audience to have their own reactions to the message of the song.
As the scope of the tragic war in Ukraine unfolded, it became evident that the level of suffering for children in Ukraine has reached the levels of those in the post Yugoslavian Balkan states. When Unitarian Universalist choir director John Ector brought this song back in 2022, I was more than ready to add my voice to the choir tasked with performing and recording this piece in the context of the invasion of Ukraine.
This time the song was recorded in virtual choir form. Each member of the choir digitally recorded one or more tracks and submitted them to Ector who then turned them into a choral piece using his skills as a musician and sound engineer. I think that my vocal quality was improved in this 2022 performance. Normally I thrive on performing in front of a live audience, but in this case I believe that performing in front of a microphone alone in my back room recording “studio” was the most effective venue for sharing this piece and communicating the message embedded within it.
I am including this recording by the Alegria Singers of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, California for you to experience. Any re-use of the song is subject to the approval of Mr. John Ector who arranged this song for Alegria.
I recommend that you close your eyes and listen with headphones or ear buds to enhance the listening experience and get the most out of the piece. Enjoy.
Prayer of the Children composed by Kurt Bestor and arranged by John M. Ector for the Alegria Singers of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, 2022.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
I had said that I would be focusing on the topic of love. I intend to honor that pledge today in Singing Cyclist style.
It is hard to address Love unless it is addressed in the context of Life. The two are both four letter words that start with “L” and the two words would seem to have a universal acceptance as words that draw good feelings from the frontal lobe of the human brain.
These two four letter words are far more pleasing to the frontal lobe than another four letter word starting with the sixth letter of the alphabet that I have used far too often over the past Trump number of years.
I’m not getting into the origins, religious attachments or romantic aspects of the word yet, but they will eventually be addressed here. I am going to opine about the role of Love in the world today.
I mean the world in this unspecified period of time when we Earthlings are transitioning from oligarchies to true democracies, from pure capitalism to envirocapitalism, from racial superiority culture to multiracial inclusionary culture.
We are in the midst of a titanic last ditch effort by dark forces to hold onto the political, economic and cultural systems of the past. So far, the dark forces appear to be winning. They have been preparing for these last days for decades. Now that the light has been shined on them, they are starting to squirm much like an Earthworm exposed to sunlight after blissfully burrowing in the darkness of the underworld.
But, they are in a position of power. They are using tools that for the rational person would seem inhumane, ignorant and illogical. Rationality cannot be assumed in the United States of America today. It has been purposefully undermined by disinformation and propaganda by disingenuous forces disguising themselves under a thin veneer of racial division, COVID chaos and warfare against peaceful people practicing democracy.
About midway through writing this piece, I watched a segment on the TV show 60 Minutes highlighting a project by National Public Radio called Story Corps. The concept behind StoryCorps came from the mind of NPR Producer Dave Isay. You can view an animated history of the project here.
"StoryCorps' mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world."
The focus of the 60 Minutes piece was another project that emerged in the spirit of StoryCorps putting a focus on getting people from opposite sides of the political spectrum together to talk. The program is called “One Small Step.” It provides a forum to talk with someone with an opposing political belief and to find some common ground with them by listening to their story.
I have tended to take a confrontational and sometimes antagonist tone in my writings. Although I believe that love needs to sometimes be tough, I think that Dave Isay and his staff at NPR are right on with “One Small Step.” As Dave said in his 60 Minutes interview, and I paraphrase: You won’t change anyones mind by calling them dumb, stupid or out of touch.
The link to how to get involved with “One Small Step” is linked in the previous paragraph.
We are all trying to make sense of a world that it is hard to find sense in these days. Perhaps we can take a lesson from “One Step at a Time” and step away from the anger of ignorance and take a step toward the peace of talking with each other.
Coming back to finish this after breakfast and after reading a Letter to the Editor in my local paper , The San Jose Mercury News, I am once again reminded of the power of disinformation and propaganda. My previous response would have been anger and vulgarity toward Mr. Gutmann. My new response is how about we try to find some common ground and talk to each other human being to human being. Thanks to Dave Isay and to Mr. Gutmann for coming together to bring about this change in me.
https://newslit.org/
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Composer Jason Shelton’s song “Love Has Already Won” is a valuable song just in it’s title let alone in the song’s lyrics. I’m going to be spending a considerable amount time in this blog examining the topic of Love.
Love Has Already Won, Words and music by Jason Shelton, keyboard Processing, Engineering and Vocals by John M. Ector. Copyright 2017 Jason Shelton.
Events over the past several years, more specifically since Donald Trump stepped into the political arena and somehow managed to become President of the United States, I have been forced to examine more closely what the word “Love” means. Where did the word come from, why is it important, what does it look like, how does it affect us, how it applies to our adversaries and much more I’m sure.
This piece begins my examination of Love. Thanks to the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, Jason Shelton, John M. Ector and the technical wizardry of the FUCSJ Tech team for sharing this piece at the multi-platform service of March 20, 2022. The next posting will be centered around another musical offering by John M. Ector. This piece is titled “Love Is.”
