Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The Truth Lies, but we shall not be outwitted

When I was a senior in high school, the world bit our collective nails over a small blip in our collective (un)conscious we now call

”The Cuban Missile Crisis.”

My best friend, the late Stephen Marcus, and I made signs to attach to our briefcases at school that said:

“The world is coming to an end. Buy your tickets now!”

Stephen Marcus went on to become Professor of Writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
He was a moving force in advancing the college writing world's involvement with technology. He wrote on using everything from email to Polaroid cameras as learning tools. He was a funny man (and a droll high school student before that---our briefcase signs were his idea) and his writing used gentle humor as suggested by one of his titles:

“Avoiding Road-Kill on the Information Highway.”

Of all of his famous quips, my favorite is:


“Media Literacy is knowing

where the truth lies” *

Think about it. Where is the “truth” lying to you?

* You may be convinced---by media that has, itself, forgotten where the “TRUTH” LIES---that Hamas is a terrorist organization----convinced by the Israeli government's clever and deceptive use of media and public relations since the 1967 war.
* You may be convinced that the army whose purpose is the ethnic cleansing of an entire people is the “victim” (the 4th largest army in the world fighting against children throwing rocks).
* You may be convinced that Hamas was responsible for the terrorism at Munich even though Munich happened in 1972, and Hamas was formed in 1988.
* You may be convinced that a people who have been, since 1967, resisting the destruction of their homes and the annihilation of their culture are “terrorists” trying to harm the army that is stealing their property ( *even the name of that army is an example of “where the truth LIES” ---the “Israeli DEFENSE Force” ---think about it: how can an “occupying” army be “defensive?”).
* You may be convinced that the rightfully elected government of the Palestinians should be forced to accept international agreements that guarantee the existence of Israel,
* even though the government of Israel is in violation of 65 UN Resolutions as well as most of the provisions of the Oslo accords and the “roadmap” for Peace [sic].

I hope you are not convinced of these things. Because, if you are, you are participating in the destruction of an ancient and civilized people:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022706T.shtml

If you are convinced of these lies, I suggest that you read Isaiah 58 which says, in part:


Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
not to hide yourself from your own kin?