Whenever I take a few days off and go dark on watching or reading the major news stories being reported, I always reconnect with a perspective I did not see previously. This time was no different as my wife and I emerged from a long weekend celebration of my 12-13-14 birthday.
When I emerged from my self-imposed news blackout, I saw news dominated with turmoil, violence, terrorism, celebrities and propaganda through the eyes of the MSM. What I did not see was the real world around you and me.
Turmoil continued in reaction to the Missouri and New York grand jury decisions concerning Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Some observers say the demonstrators are the Occupy Wall Street protesters trying to rebrand themselves with another cause. The previous one finally fizzled out when their money ran out, they got hungry and wanted a shower.
In my mind, there is one big unanswered question in the midst of all the turmoil and demonstrations. Namely, was excessive force used in the Eric Garner situation? I don't have the time or desire to dig into the grand jury analysis, but even family members of Eric Garner have stated that it was not a black/white thing, while demonstrators continued to push the narrative of a huge civil rights violation.
Neither of these unfortunate deaths should be characterized as such.
But that's the characterization being presented through the eyes of the MSM, and some celebrities in the court of public opinion, because it's more compelling than the facts, and it helps to stir social tensions and protests.
In an unrelated act of violence, a Pennsylvania man "snapped" and killed his ex-wife and five other ex-family members over a custody dispute. Fortunately, the two daughters were not hurt as the man eventually took his own life. Tragic yes, but the public had no way of seeing this violent situation coming.
The terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia appears to be a deadly "lone wolf" incident. Any of us could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. This only highlights our on-going concern for such attacks anywhere in the world, but we cannot (and I will not) live in fear of these misdirected ideological murderers.
The murderous and barbaric terrorist attack on a school in Pakistan is almost incomprehensible. One hundred forty-eight people died because a Taliban terrorist group wanted to show just how inhumane and ruthless they could be even toward innocent children. They did just that, but the president of Pakistan vowed that their country would also not live in fear.
Last week, the Democrat-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee released a propaganda hit piece on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA director publicly defended the agency with great credibility, exposing the Democrats' deception tactics once again.
But now, Dr. James Mitchell has unnecessarily emerged as a key figure in the Senate's propaganda report concerning "waterboarding" as an enhanced interrogation technique. The Democrats claim it was torture nearly eight years ago, while Dr. Mitchell, a CIA contractor, convincingly argues the opposite and says the procedure helped to save American lives. Period!
I believe Dr. Mitchell as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney's similar assessment. Cheney also says he would do it again because it helped to avert another 9/11 type attack on the United States.
All of the turmoil, violence, terrorism and propaganda are unsettling, disturbing and great cause for heightened caution. But for most of us not directly impacted in our world or daily life, not much has changed after a few days off. Yes, violence could strike any of us at any time, and I believe that the likelihood of other terrorist attacks are increased based on the warnings by the intelligence community.
And yes, social tensions are being stirred up by people and organizations looking for relevance, but not for most of us in the immediate world around us.
Let's get back to the reason for the season through the lenses of our worlds.
