I do not follow or watch news anymore....(no politics discussion please)

[adorshki]

Yeah, I don't want to go there either, but 1 plus 1 is always gonna be 2.

I wish the news were that simple.

Thank you. While I think I understood what you meant by your statement "By definition, there can only be one truth", that statement itself is not accurate in that absolute form.

It's only accurate in situations where 2 mutually exclusive "facts" must be analyzed for validity, and that's exactly the example I thought of:
1+1 equals 2.
1+1 does not equal 2.
Yes, only one can be true.

For contrast:
The sun always rises.
The sun always sets.

Both are true, and are not mutually exclusive.
Thinking about it, I came up with a hypothesis:

Truth cannot disprove another truth.
And a corollary: Truth can always disprove falsehood.

This is where logic comes in, and I think logic is the finest tool man's come up with to seek "the truth".

Had a great math teacher in high school and the first 2 months of "Geometry1" were dedicated to logic, in order to be able to construct logically valid proofs (or disproofs) of theorems (like my hypotheses above, which in fact I haven't logically tested yet.)

Logic lit me up, and it's that tool which enables the analysis of statements in the news for logical validity.
All too often, propositions are offered and opinions formed based on faulty "IF:THEN" propositions, even if the "facts" used are accurate.

Logic (and math) exist independently of moral and value judgements, they are "pure". When value/moral judgments and conflicting beliefs are at issue and supporting facts are accurate, one must ask oneself as Gjmalcyon and GAD mentioned:

"Who's got an axe to grind?" or "What's their agenda?".

I see nothing wrong with editorializing. In fact it helps one evaluate the reliability of the news source, according to their agenda.

Multiple sources are good, that's a critical reason for having a free press.

Nobody can tell you what you can or can't hear.

Pick what you want (or don't want) to listen to. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.

Oh well, not exactly everything I thought of, and kind of scatter-shot, but will leave it at that.

 

[GAD]

There are multiple forms of logic. I firmly believe that the philosophy of logic should be mandatory in high school.

This thread may not survive the night. Everyone please think carefully when you post.

 

[Opsimath]

Truths?
She is a girl.
That bovine critter is probably a steer.
You made some convincing points though.

The bovine critter could be a Holstein heifer or cow, couldn't it? Or are Holsteins hornless?

EDIT: Just googled. Holsteins and all dairy cows, according to the article, have horns but most are dehorned as calves. Polled (hornless) genetics are increasing, with hopes that dehorning will some day be a thing of the past. Our Jersey milk cow has horns. The Angus beef cows do not. Madeline, the Jersey, rules the pasture. I do not get on the ground and make cow faces at Madeline, but she probably would be okay with it if I wanted to.

 

[adorshki]

There are multiple forms of logic. I firmly believe that the philosophy of logic should be mandatory in high school.

This thread may not survive the night. Everyone please think carefully when you post.

Love it.
Would you believe I was just thinking that same thing, probably at the same time you were posting it?

So I'll stick my neck out and offer that multiple news sources are a good thing for a critical thinker.

Considering each source's content with an awareness of their agendas would likely lead to an assumption that the "truth" must be somewhere in the middle, even though that in itself isn't a logically valid assumption.

Nonetheless, I believe that for those who who want to to find it:

Look hard, my friends, look hard.

 

[davismanLV]

Well, without getting into heady discussion I'll say that I don't read news or watch news at all. I find I'm better off being somewhat sequestered and isolated. It doesn't bother me. Most news doesn't touch me personally. And if it touches my life then I'll deal with it then. And you may say, it's too late to do anything but, my life is better without me spending a whole lot of time worrying about things I have very little to no control over. So some might say I'm burying my head in the sand, and maybe that's true. I'm just trying to make my hours and weeks that are left as enjoyable as possible. So I'm with Woody. I have no cable, no network..... just Amazon Prime and Netflix for my entertainment. I watch very little television. Mostly I read.....

 

[F312]

<DELETED>

Ralph

 

[GAD]

The bovine critter could be a Holstein heifer or cow, couldn't it? Or are Holsteins hornless?

EDIT: Just googled. Holsteins and all dairy cows, according to the article, have horns but most are dehorned as calves. Polled (hornless) genetics are increasing, with hopes that dehorning will some day be a thing of the past. Our Jersey milk cow has horns. The Angus beef cows do not. Madeline, the Jersey, rules the pasture. I do not get on the ground and make cow faces at Madeline, but she probably would be okay with it if I wanted to.

Excellent pursuit of the facts.

 

[adorshki]

Madeline, the Jersey, rules the pasture.

There wouldn't by chance be one named Patty, would there?

 

[dreadnut]

I said it's probably a steer...

 

[Rich Cohen]

I don't watch or listen to the news much anymore. I long for the days of David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. It was always my sense they they were actually relating the news, not offering up their own bias and slant on things.

Rich, I completely agree with you about Cronkite and Brinkley era. The FCC should be criticized for the "Fairness Doctrine." At least PBS delivers news, most of the time, though with its own version of tilt.

 

[Rich Cohen]

David Muir is a Syracuse native, near where I live. I'm embarrassed.

It's not reporting anymore to me, it's a "show".

Even the "actors" refer to their "news" programs as a "show." As in, "Thanks for watching the show."

 

[dreadnut]

"The sun always rises.
The sun always sets.
Both are true, and are not mutually exclusive. "

In reality, the sun neither rises nor sets; the Earth rotates on its axis. And that is the truth!

 

[dreadnut]

 

[fronobulax]

OK. The child in me is going to get the last word in and then abuse my Moderator privs. If that is wrong there are Mods who can slap my wrist and undo it, but since the words Guild and Guitars have been used rarely if at all, I'm standing on something firmer than quicksand.

1 + 1 does not equal 2. Sometimes 1 + 1 = 10 as anyone who is aware of number systems besides base-10 should realize. There are reasons why there are bookshelves full or treatises on what truth means and whether there is such a thing as an absolute truth. I repeat my observation from browsing those bookshelves that there is a strong correlation between believing in the existence of absolute truth (or not) and believing in the existence of God (or not) and a serious discussion will need to acknowledge the role of religion.

So having claimed the last word, at least temporarily I'm closing the rabbit hole.