Content matters. Voting with the right information.

The content of public words and actions combined with a person’s/organization’s overall words and actions in private matters in the political realm, whose words and actions affect the lives of every person within that country.

Organizations of the media, in particular, who are willing to continue to spread falsehoods and misdirection, do not deserve the title or appearance in any slight capacity as being news, and generally should not be trusted for their “reporting.” It should also not be a persons source for decision making. A good rule of thumb would just be to avoid that entity completely.

As well, any political candidate who continually and abundantly spreads lies and misinformation, rarely states verifiable pieces of information or facts, and/or continually boasts of themselves over service to their people and what can be done for those people, doesn’t deserve a place in any office in serving the people. I would argue that they don’t deserve any role that provides them power over any other persons — including owning a company or heading an organization. All of those entail the collaborative efforts of meeting the needs of others as well as meeting the needs of themselves/their organization.

Overall, every person must take a look at the content they are ingesting when it comes to their thoughts on voting in an election. What did this person really say? Is the information full of items that are completely hearsay? Where did they get the information they just presented? Does it contradict what they said just minutes ago, a month ago? Is the information they just presented even anything that is verifiable? Can the source be trusted? Why or why not? Does the source correct themselves when errors are brought up or do they ignore or make excuses?

One must also ask themselves, “Am I willing to objectively listen to the other side?”, “Is what I am believing match my values?”,  “Am I purposefully not being shown the other side/alternatives to this item by the entity?”, and “Is what I believe actually true or am I just believing an idea that I think is true and/or something I just want to believe?” A person I think also needs to look at whether or not they are voting on specifically one principle that they paramount while a multitude of other principles from one source or person do not match. Is it worth it to give up everything else over a single principle? It seems hypocritical.

I am tested constantly with these items, and I have an overwhelming reality that my own thoughts and values are tested regularly simply within my own group of people. I encounter people that are not even willing to ask the above questions, nor the many more that could be added. That is biased to not do so — to not explore the other side at least.

It might seem hopeless to change a person’s mind who has differing views on a political candidate, and I definitely have those feelings too at times. I think the best a person can do is to present the information, providing sources as necessary.

Sometimes I have noticed that a person might simply have a different set of values than you, but generally people hold the same core values — don’t kill, be nice to your neighbor, et cetera.

One thing that I think has gotten muddied is what a fact is. A fact is something that can be proven. The Oxford Dictionary defines a fact as “a thing that is known to be true, especially when it can be proved.” People cannot have a different set of facts. There is no alternate truth that exists. If one chooses to deny truth, having their own set of perceived reality, that does not make it a fact — it just makes them delusional. Simply asking someone to prove their viewpoint of something with a fact can help bring to light something either that you have incorrect or that they have incorrectly.

I’ve probably uncorked a big bottle here but the Cliff Notes version of it is — Be more diligent in checking yourself, sources, and the ideas you wish to believe in when it comes voting this year. The content and context matters.

If the political entities and sources you seek out for news are consistently feeding you information that can be verified — keep them. If they are most often lying to you or misleading you to some agenda — dump them. Content matters. Consistency matters. Truth matters. Facts matter. Voting matters.

Educate yourself in the right ways, and vote on truth, and vote on values that match. Don’t vote on feelings, hearsay, ill sources, and unverifiable information.

I know the election is a couple months away, but now is the time to start feeding yourself the right information to properly cast a vote in November.