Truth: Whatever You Want it to Be!

Poison from AOL

This evening I watched a video that came across my monitor from AOL News. I was so incensed by it that I am including my thoughts about it in this blog. The AOL “news” item was headlined “Was Alexander Hamilton Ever President?” Several academics were interviewed and said that he was never President, but the interviewer persisted, insisting that because the “winners” usually write what passes for history, we cannot believe what is in the history books, no matter how well it is documented. To back this up, several “man in the street” interviews hinted that “people” just don’t know whether or not he ever was President, and that was considered evidence. The video left the question open, as something still open to debate. I was shocked.

Why? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but everyone is not entitled to their own facts. On the skimpiest of evidence consisting of (1) interviews with people whose knowledge was extremely limited (two examples: ”Alexander Hamilton, he had something to with the telephone, right?” or “He must have been President because he’s on the ten dollar bill.”) and  (2) the questioning of the veracity of a documented historical fact which the clever interviewer felt he had the right to challenge without any supporting evidence, AOL puts this on their front news page! Wow!

This is historical revisionism at its most blatant. Believe anything you want. Deny any fact that you want. If you can get a brand name label like AOL to headline the question, “Was Alexander Hamilton Ever President?,” you give credence to this attempt to deny the indisputable fact that Alexander Hamilton was never President of the United States. This is truly the world of George Orwell’s 1984 where there is no longer anything that is true. Truth is what you want it to be.

Is it open to question whether or not there was a Holocaust?

Is it open to question whether or not Al Qaida flew planes into the World Trade Center, destroying it?

Is it open to question whether or not the world is shaped like a globe?

Is it open to question whether or not the sun rises in the east?

Is it open to question whether or not Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for best Actress in 2010?

Sure it is, if you are ignorant enough to believe anything you see on the internet, and too many of us are. Stay away from the forces of darkness on the internet, and today AOL took the prize for that.

JL

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Jack’s Recipe for a fine Springtime in Florida Drink

1. Pour 1 ½ ounces of tequila into a mixer half filled with cracked ice.

2. Add about ½ ounce of Triple Sec or Cointreau.

3. Add about three ounces of Orange Juice.

4. Stir gently and drain, leaving ice behind, into a martini glass

If you are trying to impress anyone, add a maraschino cherry or a lime wedge.

This isn't quite a Tequila Sunrise, but it tastes pretty damn good.