We all should bone up on literacy, in the truest sense

Truth is in trouble, no matter where you stand with individual candidates

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

It makes sense that I am big advocate for literacy — the ability read and write, and the related skills used in search of truth.  It was pretty much the hallmark of my very existence as newspaper guy. As the "X Files" taught us, "The truth is out there."
Others have taught us some with their writings, too.
“Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path,”said Carl Sagan, astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator.
But anyone following the current election cycle can see that the truth is in trouble, no matter where you stand with individual candidates.
Writer James Patterson, who himself has written more than 147 novels that have sold more than 300 million copies, puts it this way.
"We are becoming a nation of functional illiterates scattered along the tracks, incapable of pursuing a train of thought for more than minutes at a time," he says. 
"We have let our standards fall so far that this year's first-time voters are, on average, in the habit of reading for personal interest less than 10 minutes a day," according to Patterson.
Citing information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people 75 and older read about an hour a day. "The habit drops off through each 10-year bracket below that until you get to people ages 35 to 44 years old. They are reading 12 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays, and less than 10 minutes during the week. Younger than that, it only gets worse."
Patterson says, "We are becoming a nation of distracted nincompoops who don't have the patience to bother finding out if lies are lies — because we have lost the mental capacity to do otherwise — are forced to judge issues on the basis of style and delivery rather than substance and accuracy."
He is not the only one complaining that political debate has become unhinged from reality. And politicians have never had the reputation of being too closely associated with the truth. 
After all, "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap,” as noted by Napoléon Bonaparte.
But people were at one time, better equipped to call 'baloney' on trickery, deceit, and hogwash.
I actually quoted a politician, accused of not knowing the facts in one instance,  saying,  "I guess I'll have to bone up on that."
Quit staring at the posts, Memes and Tweets on the phone, and think about literacy. 
"Not the literacy of being able to sound out the words above a Facebook post. Not the literacy of knowing what LMAO means in a text message. Not even the literacy required to read the instructions on your College Boards," as Patterson notes.
Maybe we should all hit the books, volunteer at the library, and read newspapers. 

 

One of the lowest crime rates in the country

Had enough name calling, charges and counter charges, political attacks and misinformation? No, I didn't think so. The following sound bytes and quotes from past political seasons should help you fill in the blanks.

"The truth, which is what elections are all about, is that the tax burden of the middle class has gone up while the tax burden of the middle class has gone down."--John Kerry, quoted by the Associated Press, Aug. 25, 2004.

"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure." -George W. Bush, Jan. 2001

"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically." -George W. Bush, speaking at the Radio & Television Correspondents dinner, March 29, 2001

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know." —Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

When Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) told Rep. Peter Stark (D-Calif.) to "shut up" amid a dispute over legislation, Stark had this to say: "You think you are big enough to make me, you little wimp? Come on, come over here and make me, I dare you…You little fruitcake. You little fruitcake. I said you are a fruitcake."


"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
— Hilary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.

"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"
— Democratic congressional candidate in Texas.

"We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
— former Vice President Al Gore

"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix,"
— former Vice President Dan Quayle

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
— former President Bill Clinton

"It isn't pollution that is harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
— former Vice President Al Gore

Plus one of my favorite:
"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,"
— Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.

But perhaps my alltime favorite political quote, which gets to the very essence of politics, follows.

When Earl Long swept an election in Louisiana and his opponent cried foul when he received only 3 votes in an entire parish and observed that he had more than 3 personal friends in that parish; old Earl opined, “That’s politics for you. One day you got friends, the next day you ain’t.”
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