PATRICK BUTLER: Gimmie Shelter

11 August 2010

A QUICK PERUSAL of Internet "news" sites reveals the dumbing down - and worse - of the planet. The most common denominator among such sites, honestly, seems to be a brief and obvious statement punctuated with the letters "LOL " from the readers. One can almost hear the phrase, "It has electrolytes" in the sub-text of such articles.

The advertising noise is deafening as well. The motivation of most advertisers is to induce people to part with their money - in their direction - by creating needs. News sites are complicit in the heist; the real reason for the existence of many sites is revenue from ad sales, not the honest reporting of news. It is a dark deception to deliver "news" at the expense of integrity.

"Honest" advertising - and I believe in such a thing - cannot easily be spotted within a news source that disregards its primary calling to present important concepts for the betterment of society at large. Truth-seeking should be a news publication's primary pre-occupation. It is disingenuous - or worse - to declare, "what is truth?" That statement was famously made in a worst-case scenario more than 2,000 years ago.

Honest news sources do not provide a steady diet of intellectual candy, making the consumer spiritually diabetic. They provide healthy reflections on the purpose we inhabit this planet. This is not an impossible task in news gathering. But it takes courage to stand on the right side of the news.

Many news organizations are called to the heights of illumination and few are chosen. Just observe the death of one news organization after another as they lose their way and do their best to ward off destruction.

The ability to discern the difference "good" news and "bad" news is where American citizens need to spend their Web time, enriching their lives and those around them. The consequences of the inability to discern is now abundantly clear among us. Just log on.

So, what to do? To start find a site that tells the Truth - and stick with it. Try to avoid, for instance, any site with the words "celeb" or "gossip" in their button choices, or presents tawdry material in the guise of the freedom of information. Purposely avoid the next headline about a "celebrity extra-marital affair." It is just mindless, indefensible gossip.

It may be near impossible to find such news sites these days, but have some faith; with God all things are possible.