Paul Richardson: You mean that was it?

It’s a world divided. If you don’t get the truth out, there are people ready and willing to perpetuate a story of their own version and most likely a false narrative to boot. 

Social media and an abundance of quasi news sources bombard the internet where they find a population that is ready receive and believe.

My eccentric daughter and I have had a series of discussions about how and where to validate information that we view on the internet. While we may have different philosophies and viewpoints on several subjects, she understands that I don’t rely on just one source. 

Despite the source, or their world view, I have found that bias always finds a way to slip through. My method is to look at a minimum of three sources, some which I know have conflicting biases, find the common threads, pull them for each tapestry and then pursue the facts from these, hopefully arriving at something that at least resembles the truth.

It’s a lot of work and effort, but at this point, it has kept me from falling prey to information that is clearly developed from an opinion and then presented in a way that some readers bypass the caveats and assume that it is fact. 

Sometimes those caveats are simply mere phrasings that keep the presenter above any legal repercussions but are so subtle that they are lost behind the information that is presented, but only is an opinion and not fact. 

My dear mother recently brought up an item that she had assumed was truth and even had based that decision on the fact that another family member had also heard the same thing. This particular statement was not reported or supported by any other news source, indicating to me that it was suspect. As a few days passed and things remained the same, it became evident that this information was the projection of an opinion.

This same type of burrowing by the mental moles has been taking place regarding the vaccines. Yes or no, up, or down, whether or not people choose to take any of the vaccines is purely a matter of choice to me. 

Having said that, the good wife and I made our decisions and were fortunate enough to get a call weeks ahead of the time that we expected. It is done. We went, we got stabbed, we survived, we are alive!

The experience that we encountered in no way resembled the information that was presented by every source. No long lines, no “must apply for appointment online”, no drama. 

In fact, we put my dear mother’s name on the list and two days later she got the call and received her dose. My eccentric daughter called me to see how I was doing. She couldn’t find a provider in Joplin, so she and Stretch drove to our pharmacy and got vaccinated four days after she put her name on the list.

It was all very anticlimactic. No fuss, no muss and I’m left saying, “You mean, that was it?”