As the Goshen Gazette makes it's debut on the internet, I am making two promises. The first promise is that all labels will be clear. If it's news, that is what we'll call it. If it's prophecy, the author will state that specifically. If it's a recipe, we'll call it that. We are not going to redefine the information to fit the situation. It will be what it is and labeled as such. The second promise, since the editor is human, as are the contributors, in the case of error, the accountability and revision will be a lead headline at the top of the front page, not some obscure link at the bottom of a page.
The news is beginning to remind me of the flood of 1993, and I can complain about being a victim and get in line for the next "hand out" in the recommended container, or I can do with information what I did when the flood hit. I was running a restaurant, I was never closed a day due to the lack of water. I improvised and recycled, and I met health department standards. I had my family and employees take a meal to every National Guardsman that was providing water for the town. It somehow made me feel less of a waterless victim to supply food and be as innovative as I could imagine. Now, here with information overload, I feel the same overwhelming feeling I felt twenty years ago.
I remember clearly, that Saturday night, when my husband got the call from the crew member covering the week-end. My husband at that time was first line for the phone company. His crew member was calling to say the river water was waist deep in the water treatment plant, the phones were now on crafted flotation devices, and when the water reached his chest, the plant was shutting down. I called the kids to the kitchen and we implemented a plan of action. We filled the bathtubs, the sinks, the washing machine and my son headed out with his dad to fill the sinks at the restaurant.
We'd only lived in that town about a year, but as we were running water, we began calling the people we did know to warn them of the impending situation. I was shocked at the responses. I was actually rebuffed, told not to worry, that they were watching the news and everything was reported to be fine. That was between 10 and 10:30 pm. Before midnight, the entire town was without running water.
I realized two things that night that I've never forgotten. One, too much water in the water treatment plant, rendered all the water unsafe an unusable. Two, people rely on their news to be accurate, they place their faith in the news reports. The town was without potable water for a week, yet the rivers were out of their banks. I see the current flood of newsfeeds very much the same way. We are literally inundated with information, so much so; that we truly don't know if we can rely on any of it, but we just keep searching for something we can believe. Our present version of the news is editorialized, sensationalized, dramatized, and capitalized, with Snopes and Google for accountability.
Flooded with fact or fiction? Is the wrong information we receive relayed knowingly or is it a matter of scooping the headlines? Once the wrong information is reported, does the intent really matter, if facts are lacking? Let's address the muck and the mire of misinformation, which is another troubling similarity to the results of a river out of it's banks. Those in the wake, find themselves sorting through what wasn't swept away. After the flood waters have evaporated or returned to the confines of the river bank, the pictures, the papers of importance, if they were not protected are marred forever, if even preservable. It is then that memory and perspective become the history, rather than the actual, facts.
As for those who would question the reliability of the information we are given, they are the rabble rousers, or worse. To question all sources is now considered paranoia, whereas; it used to be considered good journalism. Is too much misinformation any worse than no information? Too much muddy water out of the banks left us with no more drinkable water than a mirage in the desert. News should be compared to water. We need it. News doesn't have to all be good, we know it won't be, but it must be accurate information, it should not be excessive or muddied. A flood is not better than a drought . . .
As our society speeds toward instant overload, we are discovering we may never know what the facts truly are. The recent horrific event of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School is alarming proof. The reports were conflicting all day, and now the current revisions are not even presented along side the early reports for understanding. In less than two months, the people have become divided about gun control and we aren't even asking, what really happened. The reports have faded, like receding flood waters, and we stand in the muck and the mire, not crying for truth; but clinging to our traditions.
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