Kerby Anderson
On my radio program, I am always looking for ways to help listeners develop discernment. With so many sources of news and information and so many claims being made by pundits and politicians, it is helpful to know how to sort them out. Here are two tools for your discernment tool box.
First, be skeptical when someone on the left makes a sweeping claim. Dennis Prager goes even further. He says you should always assume the left is lying to you. He observes that “truth is a liberal value” and “truth is a conservative value.” But “people on the left say whatever advances their immediate agenda. Power is their moral lodestar; therefore, truth is always subservient to it.”
He applies that to a number of stories ranging from the Trump-Russia Collusion conspiracy ideas to the claim that college campuses have a culture of rape to warning that we have 12 years left because of global warming. In each case, he argues that the left lies about the issue.
You might find that statement too extreme, which is why I add a second tool of discernment that usually helps confirm the first assumption. Pay less attention to what someone on the left says. Pay more attention to what someone on the left does.
Let’s look at two examples Dennis Prager mentions. The left claims that our universities are saturated with a “culture of rape.” But if they really believed that, they would NEVER send their daughters to college. In their hearts, they really know that this claim is untrue and demonstrate it by acting accordingly.
What about global warming? Do people who warn us about the dangers of climate change act like it is an existential threat? Most people issuing these warnings have a carbon footprint vastly larger than ours. If they really are that concerned, we would expect them to be the first to change their lifestyle.
If you want to know what is true, use some of these tools of discernment to check out some of the news and claims being made today.