Trust but verify

Training as a journalist teaches us to “trust but verify.” The Internet makes it worse because someone can tell you something preposterous and be very passionate about it, for example, "solar panels cause cancer" or "my child got vaccinated, now they are sick."

Then they say "do your research" and suggest a loved one with Stage 4 ovarian cancer forego chemotherapy in favor of Ivermectin. If you search enough with Google, whatever preposterous thing anyone asserts can be found true, on a minute level, through anecdotal evidence. It is confirmation bias and then it is compounded because the browser on the computer in their pocket, which they call a phone, now knows what they looked for and leads them to more things to keep them addicted, digging deeper and heading into a spiral of nothingness.

We need more face-to-face human connection, more walks in nature and to read more books. Also, God gave me two ears and one mouth because I should listen at minimum twice as much as I speak. I acknowledge my frailty. For me that can be hard.

I just read a profile of CP Ellis, written by Studs Terkel. Ellis was a man born poor in North Carolina who hated what he didn't understand and became a KKK leader as an adult. It is in Terkel’s book "My American Century." My son gave it to me for Christmas. Ellis's heart turned when he got involved in a committee working on school desegregation.

He was against it. He came to realize a woman with whom he battled frequently really just wanted the same thing for her people he wanted for his, a good education for the children. There was no difference.

The powers that be were pitting everyone against each other because if you have someone to blame, it is easier to be kept down.

Someone saw the transformation and gave him a job as a janitor. He saw how poorly paid janitors were and when organizers approached him about a union, Ellis listened and embraced the idea. He became an organizer, a business agent, leader and President of that union. Most of his supporters as a leader were Black people. People have the capacity for change. Never forget that.