The Actuality of Factuality

     Everything we read is written from a biased perspective, including this blog. The only way to write without bias is to leave your brain behind. Although that may explain my writing style, the perspective of the author cannot be completely eradicated, even when the information is gathered and composed by AI. But sometimes I long for a little honesty. All but the local articles in our newspaper are cut and pasted from the AP (Always Partisan) news service. I understand why this is necessary, small newspapers like ours cannot afford to send staff to cover national, much less international, events. Today I was trying to find out whether an earthquake, or an avalanche, caused the flash flood which has killed so many in Nepal. It was reported both ways. From what I can tell, the seismic activity recorded before the flood was caused by the massive chunk of glacier, mud, and rock that broke off high in the Himalayas. That would certainly ratchet up the Richter scale, even without an earthquake. As I told my husband, who leans toward the earthquake explanation, it doesn't require a tsunami to make waves when a fat person cannonballs into a swimming pool. 

    The Pour Over, which I recommend as a Christian perspective news source, says the reason for the slide is unknown. The AP (Advocating Progressives) not only says it was caused by global warming, but human caused global warming. As if, under the tons of rock, mud, and debris, they found a note assigning blame. Inserting "human caused", which cannot possibly be proven, compromises the factuality of whatever truth may have unintentionally remained in the rest of the article. One would think even a semi-competent editor would have noticed one of his writer's pants were on fire. And it is not as if the AP (Actively Prejudiced) never admits causes are unknown. For instance, if a Muslim looking man, with a Muslim sounding name, whose internet accounts reveal interest in terrorist causes, suddenly decides to kill random strangers, the AP might report that the reason for the violence is unknown. Perhaps they believe that makes up for endorsing assumptions like the one in the article about the flood. 

   I am not a fan of right biased news either. In a spiritual context, seeking spokesmen to tell us what we want to hear is called having itching ears. It is the opposite of listening to sound doctrine. As the political persuasion most likely to believe in objective truth, the right goal of the Right should be to report it. Truth can speak for itself and even benevolent bias muffles it. In actuality, there is little factuality from either side of the political spectrum, and that is the honest truth.