Are They Conspiracies or Simply Truth Being Hidden for Power?

I used to trust my government, and it was often that I sided with the government stating things like, "The government sometimes keeps secrets that are secrets for the good of the people and to protect our national security and other interests."

But recently there have simply been too many things that have caused me to be on the side of questioning everything. The bottom line is, "Who can we trust, and why should we trust them?"

Our government has never been by, for and of the government. It has always been by, for and of the People. But it seems like the government has turned that around to favor only their interests, and to function outside of the interests of the We the People.

To what end, is of course the question?

Not that certain government agencies haven't always been up to sometimes nefarious things. The FBI, for example, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, at a time when there was thought to be massive and clandestine infiltration of communists, gathered all sorts of information on certain Americans—mostly celebrities and public figures. But how do we know it never went farther than that? How do we know that this didn't just become the foundation for what is now the types of information that is gathered?

Not just on public figures. But on every single American? I honestly think not only is the FBI still doing it, along with other of our federal law enforcement arms like the CIA and NSA, but they have amped up the game and joined forces with other unscrupulous people either through coercion or cooperation, or even both.

How much information might Jack Dorsey, the former founder and CEO of Twitter, have offered to certain government agencies? Or how about Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook? Even Jeff Bezos can't be left out or even the late Steve Jobs with the introduction of smart devices and things like Alexa. 

Essentially the government could know everything about you. Including your opinions and political leanings.

It creates a very scary and dangerous world, if you ask me, and it seems so obvious some of these things are happening, and few people seem to be worried about it. It worries me to think about it because it's not where I came from regarding my thoughts and perspective.

Again, I trusted the government and felt that what it did was in the interest of us. We the People.

But the Justice Department isn't really working properly. We can see that with the fervor and tenacity by which they are going after former president Donald Trump. The FBI can be questioned in a great deal of their actions, motivations and intent.

Spying on political campaigns. Perhaps having some involvement in the coordination of January 6th. The persecution of all sorts of conservatives who questioned the election or had any association or involvement with Trump. It's either jail or we'll bankrupt you, take your pick.

The covid pandemic has brought numerous things to light as well. All of the information that was disseminated was kept centralized—trust the CDC and only the CDC. And just like election deniers, anyone who questioned where covid came from or how to deal with it were quickly shut down.

Did social media companies decide to simply go with the CDC and label any question that did not follow the CDC's directives as misinformation? Or was it an "or else" proposition forced by the government to comply and tell the story "as the government wanted it to be told?"

Even more regarding covid, how come we later learned it never came from a bat, but from a lab in Wuhan, and that it was funded by the U.S. government? What was their intent? Was there intent?

Was covid simply a last-ditch effort to get rid of a sitting president they felt never should have been sent to the White House? Was it an effort to test control over the population? 

As I have said many times previously about these things, including whether or not the 2020 election was above board or not, we will likely never have the whole story. We're never going to find the real answers. We may get bits and pieces, but the whole story will probably forever remain a secret.

But not to protect the people. To protect the government and their interests. Not ours.

Cynicism is something badly amiss in this country. Maybe more people are starting to get it? That we need to question our government more than ever? That we need a media that is not engaged in politics, and not supporting one side or the other, but engaged in getting to the truth.

When you think about it, beyond the powers of government, the founders of this great nation allowed the absolute, untouchable freedom of the press so as for it to serve as the eyes and ears to oversee all of the other branches of our government, and hold them accountable, and serve the public by telling the real story.

The Freedom of the Press in the First Amendment was perhaps the biggest and most powerful check and balance we could ever have been afforded.

And now we can't trust the media either.

It pains me to have to be branded a conspiracy theorist these days the more I find myself questioning things. But at the same time, I do wonder if the label "conspiracy theorist" is just another way to silence the questions and make rational thought sound crazier than it actually is?

Anyone can laugh it all off and call someone like me observing things from a rather cynical perspective just a tin-hat nutjob. That's their right, of course. At the same time, it is not something I feel or express because I want to bring down my government or shut down my country. These are simply questions I want answers to so as to preserve and protect the integrity and beauty of what our founding fathers created.

When government becomes more powerful and bigger than the people it serves, it can never remain one that is by, for and of the People. And it's not who sits in the White House who threatens our nation the most. It's the deep-rooted bureaucracies who truly control everything. 

If we, the People, allow them to.

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Instagram Wants to Limit News and Information

We are in an interesting time when much of what we digest in the way of "news and information," happens in a very different way than it did many decades ago when there were only a handful of networks, newspapers and radio stations to get it from, and all of them mostly came from centralized news organizations like the Associated Press ultimately.

In many ways, there was also much less bias presented in news. It was straightforward journalism that sought to get to the truth, even when the truth may be painful and even destroy political careers.

Perhaps news has never truly been completely reliable. But certainly, it was more reliable than it is today.

Beyond the 24-hour news cycle, of course, the advent of social media outlets also changed a lot of the way that we receive news and information. Discussions or opinions that would otherwise be relegated to the dinner table or other social gatherings, and perhaps the occasional "Letter to the Editor," now moved into more public territory. 

Social media is largely a place where everyone has an individual voice that they can share with masses of other people. 

But that's not what everyone wants, of course, and after Trump's reelection efforts in 2020, we saw a side of truth that doesn't want to be heard, and we saw freedom of speech come under fire. Social media outlets began shutting down anyone who said things the social media powers that be did not like, and even banned certain people from being heard at all.

Suddenly truth was not being determined or examined. It was simply being decided.

Sure, it doesn't mean that many can't still have a voice. Many people, such as myself, can still freely write and publish blogs or articles sharing my thoughts and opinions, or findings on particular topics I find interesting that I think others may also find interesting.

But the sites that I write on can be limited by the places where I can post the links, such as Facebook, X and elsewhere. That can have a limiting effect on who gets to see it, let alone find it.

When Elon Musk took over X, his aim was to put an end to that and allow a freer forum for people to express themselves. It can be hotly debated whether he has actually accomplished that. But the fact remains that social media is still pushing back on certain speech.

That can be shown in the recent decision by Instagram to limit political speech in particular. 

Regardless of whether or not news or information is better with so many voices in the pool of news and information is also debatable. Because not everyone is going to have the whole truth and nothing but the truth necessarily. 

Even when it comes to my own writing on various topics, it's my opinion and it is up to the reader to decide whether or not they agree with it. It's also up to the reader to seek out more information to better form their own opinions.

What social media and blogs and podcasts and whatever other media source is being used offers is another side. An alternative. I think that does, in fact, make things better. Because otherwise all you have is one centralized source who collectively decides what is true or not. 

That makes news and information potentially propaganda. Because one group can simply control the flow. 

The problem is not so much the limiting of news and information. It's the clear agenda behind it. Because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that most of social media and news outlets are slanted to the liberal side.

And you can't make an informed decision without hearing all sides. It is better to form an opinion based on multiple sources and perspectives than to rely only on one.

Especially when it comes to politics, I think it is important for people to be able to think openly and constructively. If we had a media now that were more prone to just tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, perhaps a decision like Instagram's would make more sense. 

But that's not the world we are living in. The truth can often times now be questioned. It is often shaped and configured rather than told as it is. People need to have the ability to hear all sides and decide for themselves. That's part of why freedom of speech is so important. Why it is necessary. 

And again, it doesn't mean that anyone else is absolutely going to preach the Gospel. People still must do their own homework. But the discussion is needed, and every voice should have an opportunity to at least be heard, even when we don't like what is said.

Instagram members can opt back into political content. But the first choice should be to be able to see and hear the content before a decision is made whether or not it should appear at all for the viewers. But again, it also puts control into the hands of a very select group of people to decide what we can see or hear. 

That is not a good thing. Every American, regardless of their political leanings should want every word to potentially be heard. Because when you begin to silence one speech, eventually speech you want and need to hear will also be silenced.

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