Sunday 10 June 2018

Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth … - Job 20:4


Today’s Scripture Reading (June 10, 2018): Job 20

There is a war going on between the Cable News Outlets in the United States. Headed by the CNN – Fox rivalry, the game seems to be all about how to generate news that supports your position. This seems to be opposed to the traditional task of proving you were the best in the news game by getting the story out first. Now, both the Left (often represented by CNN who critics like to label the “Clinton News Network”) and the Right (represented by Fox News, which seems to be more about opinion and less about news) are being accused of trying to write the news rather than trying to report it. Watching an hour of CNN broadcasting actually reveals the game from both sides. While most CNN personalities seem to support the opinion of the Left, there are radical voices present from the Right. And that is part of the problem. The fight would seem to be a fight of the radicalized on both sides with a void of centrist voices who are willing to evaluate the situation with minimal bias. But it is the fight that sells. So often the viewer is treated to panel participants content to just yell at each other instead of a discussion of the validity, and truth, of the news. For much of what we call news now, there is precious little proof. Everything seems to come down to opinion.

There are voices that I feel are important to be heard. David Gergen is an important voice, maybe largely due to his extensive resume in the political arena. I always enjoy hearing Alan Dershowitz, especially when he is teamed up with Jeffrey Toobin. The pair often attack an issue from slightly different but centrist sides and seem very willing to discuss the issues with a measure of political civility that seems rare in the current environment. I could use less of Jason Miller and Symone Sanders yelling at each other, but that is probably just me.

But I could also use less of the “news without proof opinion cycle” that seems to be developing in our cable news. I long for political leaders who are in the news because of the things that they have done rather than for the idiocy that has proceeded from their mouths. And while this might seem like a new phenomenon, apparently it is very old.

Zophar the Naamathite would have fit well within the current political and news environment. Just listen to what he has to say to Job in his response to Job’s defense. “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth …” is a comment worthy of a Jason Miller. We can interpret the words as a political way of saying “I have no proof for what I am about to say, but you know that this is the truth. It is the truth because the saying is old and because I am telling you that this is the truth.” Zophar’s comment is similar to “if you hold a needle over the stomach of a pregnant woman and it swings in a circle, then the woman is having a girl. If it goes back and forth like a pendulum, then it is a boy. You know that this is true because it is an old saying, and because I am telling you that is a truth.’ (By the way, try it if you like, but it is fake news no matter how long women have been holding needles over pregnant bellies.)

The problem with Zophar’s comment is that it is fake news, no matter how stringently Zophar insists that it is the truth. What is about to proceed from Zophar’s mouth is nothing more than Zophar’s opinion. And it is opinion without evidence, and without truth.

We need a search for real truth, but I fear that we will not find it in our current political news. All that our news channels can give us is their version of Zophar’s opinion because that is what gives them their ratings. But the truth is that we deserve so much more.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 21

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