I really miss the days when someone would give you information and you were permitted to make up your own mind as to whether or not what they told you had any value or credence. Today, much of what you’re presented with has already been sifted through and “cleaned up” for your consumption. This, evidently is so that you don’t hurt yourself trying to put your cognitive skills to use in determining what’s bad about what you’re hearing and what’s good about what you’re hearing. We’re all so fragile these days that we can’t possibly be trusted to understand all that’s going on without someone holding our hand and telling us what to think.

Absolutely nothing irritates me more than this. And if you’re the type of person who enjoys being spoonfed what you’re supposed to believe, you’ll probably think I’m a troublemaker for saying so. The beauty of this is that I don’t really care that you think that because unlike our media, I want you to think for yourselves. I want you to read what I’m writing and to either say, “She’s got a point,” or “She’s just full of it.” At least I know that if you come up with this on your own, you’ve given what I’ve said at least fair consideration. If, however, I say something and you take what I’ve said and remove pieces of it to make it look the way you want it to look before telling others that I either have a point or am full of it, then you’re not sharing a true representation of what I’ve attempted to convey. And then we both look like idiots.

With the release of Jan 5+1 information from Fox News personality, Tucker Carlson, we’re seeing just how much of what was previously released to us by Mainstream Media was presented in such a way as to keep us from thinking our own thoughts about what happened in DC on that day. And yes, I had to include the date in a cryptic way in order to keep my blog from getting flagged. This, is another thing that irritates me to no end. There should be no harm in simply stating a fact. People can either agree or disagree, but I should have the right to say what I want or need to say, whether I’m right or wrong. For example, I watched the speech that Trump was giving and he did, in fact, say that everyone should go home in peace. He did not tell anyone to storm the capital or create chaos. From what I understand, many people didn’t see this. I don’t know why or how they couldn’t have, because I certainly didn’t go to great lengths to find the speech. It was on one of the regular news stations that I watched on that day. And there is video of this speech that has been shared over and over on social media. So, if you missed him saying to exit peacefully, then I’m not sure what you were watching.

Yet, after the “scrubbing.” many believe that the people who were let into the Capital were part of the big MAGA group. The truth, as it appears on these newly-released videos, is that the whole thing was pretty much staged and that there were some people who were swept up in the mess who are guilty of nothing more than sightseeing at the worst possible time. Yet, there are so many people out that who believe that these people should be incarcerated and labeled as terrorists for doing nothing more than exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble peacefully. These are the same people who see nothing wrong with other groups setting Pregnancy Centers on fire or tearing up entire towns because they simply wanted to do damage. What’s wrong with a world where people think that such destruction is absolutely fine, but peaceful disagreement and intelligent discourse is a threat?

As I was thinking about why we’re finally seeing people awaken and start to question what the media is showing us, it occurred to me that with the introduction of streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, we’ve taken back some control over the content we take in via television. For those who opt for no commercials, they’ve removed the constant barrage of slogans and jingles that used to imprint themselves on our brains each day as we watched television in an effort to unwind from a stressful day at work or school. Instead of being sold a bunch of products or services, we’re buying the option (through our streaming subscriptions) to make our own choices about what we look at. In some cases the only news that some people get these days is the news which they choose to watch. Instead of being subjected to the intermittent news breaks and strategically placed scripted news broadcasts, if we’re streaming we’ve already asserted that we don’t have time to listen to what they’re saying or that we’ll find the news on our own, thank you very much. And for those who aren’t relying on those carefully scripted narratives, we pretty much already knew that something was very wrong with the way things were being presented to us.

The point here is that we need the full story in order to make informed decisions about whatever it is we may be considering. Whether it’s health, politics, entertainment, etc., we need to know have all sides presented to us as truthfully and earnestly as possible and we need to be trusted to synthesize the information and act on it accordingly. This means we need to be informed of the right, the wrong, and the rules for determining what is right and wrong. We need to be held accountable for knowing the right and wrong. And those who present us the information need to be held accountable when they suppress the facts that we need to have access to in order to make decisions that are in our best interests. No media company should get to play judge and jury without allowing the consumer of that information the opportunity to “taste and see” so to speak, that what is being presented is either good or bad. There is really something wrong when grown people are being shielded from benign facts and our youth are being bombarded with adult-level information regarding sexuality, sexual practice, and sexual identity. How is it appropriate that a five year-old should be shown things about sex that I wasn’t even aware of until I was an adult, yet I am being shielded from seeing people being escorted into a building by security guards instead of running amok and causing mass destruction as it was originally presented by a mainstream news broadcast? Do you not see how upside-down our society has become? Show the kids all of the things they don’t need to see and shield the adults from everything they need to see. Hmmm…where have I heard something like this before?

Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

How dare these people hide the truth from us! How dare they compare the event in these videotapes to an event that was as devastating as 9/11. What a slap in the face to those who suffered so much loss and grief on that day. Setting aside your political leanings, just look at what has been done and the claims that have been made. Do you really believe that a person should be rotting in jail or have their life destroyed because they support a certain political candidate? Think about that one really hard now. Because there will be a day when you find that you believed in the absolute wrong person or got behind the wrong idea. I know this personally as I voted for Obama for two terms and now that I know what has been suppressed, I certainly wish I hadn’t. If I had known that his agenda would spin our country into a full-blown rejection of God’s principles, I never would have supported the man. But they know how to say what people want to hear instead of what they need to hear. They tuned into the weaknesses of people who just wanted to be told that everything would be okay and instead of pointing them in the direction of a loving God who would strengthen them and prepare them for whatever could happen, they promoted a love of self and a rejection of anything that stood in the way of self-gratification…including God’s word. They made God out to be a hindrance and an enabler of hate when God, Himself is love. They were on a full-scale PR campaign for Satan (even to the point of one company doing funny little ads where the devil was the main character). And they put shows on television that normalized behaviors that God has called out as sin. And they put books in our kids’ schools that were meant to help them become better at being creatures of sin, while at the same time throwing out any reference to God or His word. And the list of offenses against God goes on and on. They did anything and everything to undermine what God has said and then introduced “cancel culture” into the mix to act as a deterrent to anyone who might mention or suggest that this was wrong. We’ve been bullied on the grandest scale and told that we had no choice but to go along with it. Are you okay with that? Are you fine with letting someone who isn’t willing to share the whole truth with you dictate what you should see as acceptable? Or do you follow God’s word? I mean really follow it, not twist it to fit what you want to believe.

No one is perfect. Even those who follow God will stumble, but they must have the faith it takes to let Him pick them back up. He expects that we will take wrong turns, but He also expects that we will seek first to understand His truth and that we will measure everything else against what He’s told us. Even if it means being unpopular. Even if it means being the only one in the room that is doing the right thing. And even if that room happens to be in your church. The people who have control over our lives aren’t always good people and they won’t usually admit that their intentions are bad. So, it’s best that we not allow man to control our thoughts and beliefs, but that we weigh what man presents against what God has given us and we act accordingly, with the knowledge that if we choose to go against God, we will one day pay the price for that choice.

Rebecca Benston is the owner of Higher Ground Books & Media and the author of over twenty titles currently available through Amazon and other outlets. Her books include a mystery series (The Rona Shively Stories), empowerment resources such as Wise Up to Rise Up, Don’t Be Stupid (And I Mean That in the Nicest Way), and From Judgment to Jubilee, children’s books including Grumble D. Grumble Learns to Smile, All the Scary Things, and See How Strong You Are. Benston lives in Springfield, Ohio with her awesome daughter, Mya and enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and telling it like it is. She enjoys being able to help other authors get their stories out there through Higher Ground and has recently expanded her freelance services to offer more extensive guidance as a writing coach and social media manager. For more information, you can contact Benston at highergroundbooksandmedia@gmail.com.

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