How do you know what to believe? A Press Pros reader shared over the weekend…what it feels like when what you’ve been taught to believe is attacked, simply for being the truth.
Outside the press elevator at Ohio Stadium Saturday, a staffer greeted me and said “I have your credential here. Someone said you left it when you turned in your photo vest last week. I recognized your picture.”
First, I thanked him for finding the credential. It had stuck to the velco strips that close the front of the vest, and when I peeled it off (over my head) to turn it in it had come off with the vest without my knowing it. I was halfway back to Miami County before I realized that it wasn’t hanging around my neck.
“And you know what?” he continued. “I read you guys. I like the Press Pros website.”
Thanking him for the kind words, I added, “How come?”
“Because,” he began. “I like what you say about seven divisions of high school sports. You write things that people would like to say for themselves. When you post the readers’ comments…those people say things that I believe. You guys are different, and I know it’s the truth.
“And you don’t have to mention my name,” he added.
What I heard from this man was simply this. The truth, in print, on TV, and on the internet…has become so manipulated, and so despised, that those who would question believe it’s even dangerous to express a dissenting opinion.
How do I know? Because of the number of people who email comments to us and ask not to share their full name [on the ‘Reader Speaks’ page]. As much as they’d like their opinion on competitive balance and seven divisions to be heard, they’d like to preserve their anonymity even more.
The truth and difference of opinion have become so confrontational that people have given up. Everything you hear in the media sounds like one point of view seeking advantage over another.
And how can you tell?
Think of the people you know who would not share with a stranger under any circumstances…or even people they know…what they believe, and especially, who they’re going to vote for. The old warning about politics or religion? We’ve taken it to a different level. Sharing what you believe now, even sports, is an invitation for attack.
It’s so obvious that even Ted Koppel recently talked about it on a CBS Sunday Morning program, detailing how people manipulate others through artificial intelligence and social media in order to steer opinion. They don’t want you to believe what you’ve been taught for the truth. They want you to believe what they think you should believe. It’s eye-opening, and it’s world-wide.
“It’s kinda’ creepy,” my neighbor said recently. “We all grew up with common sense about morality, money and competitive values. Now, you’re asked to believe something different, or else…..!
Or else, what?
“When you talk about seven divisions of high school sports watering down competition, that’s so obvious,” wrote a respondent this week to the September 4th ‘Reader Speaks’ post.
He added: “Lowering expectations is never a good thing to teach young people. But it’s hard to speak out because you don’t want to be out of step.”
And then he shared, “Please don’t post my name.”
Of course the justification for lowering expectations is the argument for creating additional opportunity for others. And who wouldn’t agree with that?
Editor and publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and the Buckeyes for Press Pros Magazine.
But individually, I know that on a community level we’re still teaching the right thing to kids.
How do I know?
Look at the results – grade point averages, competition for valedictorian, and those who continually finish first both in the classroom and on the football field. Those are community values.
But nationally, you don’t have to listen that closely to know that the truth is being manipulated in order to subjugate those values. It’s called “progressive”, and everything we’ve ever known is subject to protest for one reason or another.
Forget about what you believe, and consent to what someone else thinks you should believe? It’s hard to live with when you believe you know better.
And we know someone’s reading this…who can’t stand the truth.
The Hughes Law office, in Urbana, sponsors OHSAA and Buckeye sports on Press Pros. Call them today if they can help you. Ph. 937-398-0520