tfp24

"THE FINE PRINT"
The musings of Michael Schrader

                                THE FINE ART OF DISTORTION
(Written under the psuedonym, "George Steinkrueger", 19 August 1996; previously unpublished. Posted in toto with Preface and Epilogue 9 September 2001.)

PREFACE --   This is the only unpublished George Steinkrueger column. Unlike my previous unpublished work, this was not published because I never submitted it. Since the Republican owners of the Neighborhood Journal published “Republicans Hazardous To Your Health”, I am confident that they would have published this far less confrontational column if I had submitted it. My rationale for not submitting this column had nothing to do with quality, as this column is no worse than the worst column that was published. Rather, I did not think it was appropriate for the forum. The Neighborhood Journal was based in Beebe, Arkansas, tow counties and about an hour away from Little Rock. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is a Little Rock paper. I did not think it was appropriate to talk about a Little Rock paper in a Beebe one.

      Sometimes, I really wonder what goes through people's minds. For instance, why do people write papers that are totally and completely factually incorrect, and then admit to it? And, on top of that, ask that this erroneous paper and their name be published for all the world to see? Why would anyone in their right mind want to flaunt their stupidity? I don't know. What I do know is that practically every day I will read a "Letter To The Editor" (in other newspapers, of course) that twists the truth into fiction in order to support an argument.
       So, I'm going to play truth squad for a moment and talk about three of these letters, and then I will make my point. The first letter appeared in the Democrat-Gazette on July 28, 1996 and was written by Marie Williams of Waldron. Ms. Williams writes, and I quote:
               "What the Democratic Party has done for our country and its taxpayers:
               "Added women to the work force, thereby ending the family as we knew it, causing a million heartaches from       crime and delinquency to divorce.
               ". . . Started all major wars in my lifetime, i.e. World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
               ". . . Elected the most amoral reprobate as president in '94."
       Truth squad time, Marie. Women have been in the work force since the 1700s. Granted, most of the work was either domestic or in the textile industry; nonetheless, women still contributed to the economy. In fact, women comprised the bulk of the work force in the great textile factories in places like Lowell, Massachusetts, long before the "liberation" of women from the home in the 1950s and 1960s. Sorry, Marie. Can't blame it on the Democrats. The Democrats did not start any of these wars. World War II was started by the Axis Powers, not the United States. After all, we were attacked and were left no choice but to defend ourselves. Korea was the result of an unprovoked attack on the South by the North. And for Vietnam, thank Ike, as he started the American military presence in the country after Ho Chi Minh kicked the French out. And Ike was a Republican, not a Democrat. Finally, the presidential election was held in 1992, not 1994, which really makes me wonder which election Marie voted in, if at all.
       The second letter is from Everette Hatcher III of Little Rock, and appeared in the Democrat-Gazette on August 15, 1996. Mr. Hatcher is trying to argue that our country was not intended to be secular, but religion based. To quote Mr. Hatcher:
             "The writers of the Constitution never meant for religion and morality to be excluded from public schools.   Wank [another writer] is incorrect when he implies that the First Amendment reinforces secularization.
              "The same Congress that passed the First Amendment also passed the Northwest Ordinance, which encouraged   the territories that wanted to become states to teach 'religion, morality and knowledge' in their public schools.                     President George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance into law on Aug. 7, 1789."
       Well, Everette, I hate to tell you this, but you must've been reading a Canadian history book or something. Just about anybody who paid any attention at all in high school civics can tell you that while the Congress under Articles of Confederation was basically worthless, it did pass two crucial pieces of legislation: the Land Act of 1785 (which established our system of survey), and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which established the procedure for admitting new states. The Northwest Ordinance was passed before the U.S. Constitution, and so George Washington could not have signed it into law, as it was already law at the time of the passage of the Constitution and the subsequent election of Washington. In addition, the Congress of the Articles was a unicameral body, not the bicameral Congress of the Constitution. Thus, the Congress that passed the Northwest Ordinance (pre-Constitution) was not the Congress that passed the Bill of Rights (post-Constitution). Sorry, Everette, but the facts is the facts.
       The third and final letter was written by Gordon Norrell of North Little Rock and appeared in the Democrat-Gazette on August 16, 1996. Mr. Norrell writes:
              "Liberals love to tell us that our founding fathers and subsequent leaders were mostly a bunch of agnostics and     secular-minded people who, at best, tolerated religion and Christians in particular.
               "If this is true, then please tell me why . . . our money bears the words 'In God We Trust'?
               "Why does our pledge of Allegiance contain the phrase 'one nation under God'?"
       Glad you asked, Gordon. But first, let me point out that I have never read a history book yet, and I consider myself a historian, in which it is said that the founding fathers are agnostic. Instead, the contrary is true; most literature about colonial times makes reference to religion, as religion was the reason for the existence of most of the colonies. But to answer the question, Salmon Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, added the phrase "In God We Trust" to boost support of the northern cause. It was later dropped, and was not officially adopted until 1955, during the depths of McCarthyism, that wonderful period in American history during which many fine citizens were accused of being "Godless Communists." As for "one nation, under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, that phrase was also adopted during the Red Scare, as it was added to the Pledge in 1954. Sorry to burst your bubble, Gordon, but those references are a result of intolerance and paranoia, and have absolutely nothing to do with the Founding Fathers.
       And now, back to the point. Each of these letters loses all credibility to the blatant factual errors I just enumerated. So if you write a letter, make sure that what you say is true. After all, your name, and thus your reputation, is on that letter.
       But letter writers are not the only culprits; I have read many columns and heard many radio programs that have distorted the facts just as severely as the writers of these letters have. The tragedy is that some valid viewpoints are lost because of the lack of credibility of the presentation. A well researched, factual, and well argued position is worthwhile, whether or not you agree with it; a poorly researched, erroneous, and poorly argued (i.e. name-calling) position is absolutely worthless and should not even be presented. After all, why waste people's time on junk?
       Caveat emptor. Buyer beware. Before, you, the reader, accepts anyone's opinion, including George Stienkrueger's, as gospel, check out the facts presented and verify that what is being said is actually true. I can assure you, however, that I would be embarrassed to sign my name to anything that is as grossly erroneous as the letters I have cited, and I hope that my fellow columnists feel the same way. There is one word to describe such a gross distortion of the facts, and it has a negative connotation: propaganda.

EPILOGUE -- Even when you do exercise great care and diligence, sometimes you still get it flat wrong. If your sources are wrong, you will be wrong, too. In a later column, I wrote about the ethical lapses of the two candidates for Congressional seat representing Central Arkansas. For the Republican, I used information reported in a liberal weekly. For the Democrat (who happened to be my neighbor and the Congressman), I used the conservative daily paper. I got it plain wrong, and got called to the carpet by both sides. (Although I tried, things were never the same again between myself and my neighbor.) But, there is a big difference between forgetting to use “...it has been rumored...” and forgetting when Bill Clinton was first elected President.