In 2004, Maine faced a citizen’s initiative, that if passed, would have essentially ended all tactics used to legally harvest bears except for stalking. It failed quite handily. Rep. Jim Schatz, at the bequest of some constituents, has proposed LD1635, a bill to ban bear trapping altogether.
Passions run deep with issues like this and this one is no different than all the others before. We all have our opinions, most of which are based only on the facts we want to believe. This is why our society is morphing into a rapidly paced one of progressive thinking, lacking in much of any semblance of morals. For you progressives, I am sure to anger you because you believe that it is bad for our society to speak honestly and truthfully. You believe that this society should be diverse and tolerant of others’ beliefs, yet you spend much of your time working to pass laws that show the intolerance locked up in your souls. To justify such actions, you continually spew out your rubbish about how values in society change therefore we must change with the times, while failing to see the trench in which we have dug for ourselves that leads to the demise of a one great society. We ask, “How did we get to this point?” Yet, don’t want to see the truth when told.
The way that our children are brainwashed with this same left-leaning progressive education system, facts remain an item that contains no value. Our children are taught that everything is about oneself. Respect, tolerance and love of neighbor are items of the past. Hypocrisy and blatant double standards rule the times.
In issues such as this bear trapping one in Maine, people line up on the side of their choice. This is the way I see it. On the left, you have the liberal-minded progressives who believe only that their way is the right way and the rest of the world is wrong. One the right, you have those wanting to cling to the values of their past, recognizing the strength and moral decency that guided them through the rigors of growing up. The might even believe in the Constitution – as it was written. They too believe their way is the right way and are not willing to compromise in those beliefs.
In the middle somewhere, lodged between the two ends are the majority, much of whom have few opinions, or are at least unwilling to share them outside family or close friends. Much of what they do tend toward is directed by lies, spin and twisted truths fed to them through the bombardment of what has the greatest influence on them – media.
The difficulty comes because this majority is either uninformed or misinformed and they for the most part, don’t care enough to actually find the truth. Should they choose to find the truth, the question arises as to where they will find it.
Our society has grown up learning that we get this information from the media, all forms of it. We grew up finding comfort and solace in the evening news and our favorite newspapers. Not anymore. It is sad to say that none of the outlets can be completely trusted anymore – none.
So, where does one turn to find guidance and truth? As our society evolves at a rate that seems faster than the speed of light, people are turning to sources that tell them what they want to believe. If you are on the left, you seek out those who write from the left. The same for the right. This polarization is growing and showing no signs or weakening.
You can find truth in reporting, if you want to bad enough but who wants to? Far too few. The lazy way is to rely on the same old media and just accept that because it is in writing it must be true.
Whether it’s another anti-bear-trapping bill, one declared as a way to “protect” the future of our fishing industry or another that makes one feel good because they believe they are doing the good of hunters by proposing some hunting ethics bill, information saturation into the media will be so full of bad, twisted, misleading, nonfactual, rhetorically filled garbage, that the one who comes out the “winner” is the one that mislead the voters the most – driven by the most money. This is extremely sad but true.
The Portland Press Herald, one of Maine’s largest media outlets, printed an editorial yesterday about LD1635. The PPH is in the business to make money, not as a public service. That might come as a surprise to some, at least those living under a cabbage. An editorial is designed to insight readers to think more passionately about issues. It also helps to editorialize about hot button issues in order to sell more copies. More copies means more money.
Don’t get me wrong. I do the same thing, after all, it’s my business. I can’t sell advertising if I don’t have readers and to get readers I have to give them what they want, right?
As a prime example, you can read this editorial piece and see how written word expressed by the editors of one newspaper, can influence its readers. All I will say about this editorial, is that the editorial was written by someone, whom I believe, probably is not a hunter or a trapper or has very little experience or history behind them.
If you want to see how editorials dealing with hot button topics, presented in a way that can fire emotion, read the article and then follow that up by reading all the comments made by readers.
In the comments section, you will learn that this is usually how issues such are this are decided. Both parties believe their information is “THE” facts, “THE” truth. It’s up to you to decide what is truth and what is not. GOOD LUCK!
Tom Remington
