Truth Twisters

Those familiar with the Tea Party activists will know them to be a decent sort of folk. Not rowdy, like the Occupiers at Wall Street. Rather, their sole desire is to get our government back to the way the Founders set it up: to be limited, and under the protective chains of our constitution.

So, if you were to hear about a Tea Party activist who was a deranged killer, that would certainly catch your attention, now wouldn't it?

This was the intent of Brian Ross, news reporter of ABC news: to catch your attention. Unfortunately his story was just a twisted truth to make the Right-wing Tea Party activists look bad.

The story of the shootings in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater last Thursday was devastating to all. As "Batman: Dark Knight Rises" screened on the opening night, the seats were packed. Suddenly, one man identified as James Holmes got up, set off a gas bomb, then fired at random with multiple guns killing 14 people and injuring many more. (To hear more of this account visit this Fox News video)

The tragedy caused people across the states to ask a lot of questions, the first and foremost being: who is this horrid terrorist, James Holmes? The media jumped for answers, and that's when the trouble began for ABC news reporter, Brian Ross.

Watch the video below to see what he said:



Aha! Did you catch that? Listen to how he words that report:


“There is a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the tea party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes – but this is Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.”

That is a big no-no in reporting! Implying someone could possibly be affiliated with a group like the Tea Party (who most the reporter is probably biased against) before it has been factually proven! This cost Brian Ross big time--because it turned out he was WRONG.

In Politico's article, Brian Ross of ABC Take Heat for Another Blunder, ABC apologized in a statement saying:

“An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect. ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted.”

This blunder only reiterates two points:
 

1) Be careful about what you listen to on the media.

Many reporters have a history of similar blunders! Everybody has bias which they will play up in their reporting. They won't tell the whole story all the time, or look into the necessary details. It is usually a game of making the party they are against look bad, while making their party look good.

I once heard it said "beware of the sound of one hand clapping," meaning you should try to get a balanced idea of both sides of an issue. The right and left, in this case.* 

 

*But even then, I would caution against listening to too much liberal news. They have a record for truth-twisting, and being in favor of many ideologies that go against Christian belief. Read up on our Constitution, and American history for the best information.

2) We live in fallen world where truth suppressed.

Ever since the serpent questioned God's Word in the garden of Eden, we have been at war with the Father of Lies. We see his workings in all the little half-truths, and story spinning going on today. “Did God actually say..." were the opening words of the serpent's speech to defy God's truth (Genesis 3:1), and now in big and small ways the ultimate Truth we cling to is being rallied against.

From crazy killers who act upon the lies they believe--like taking innocent human lives is right, to news reporters that paint Tea Party-ers in favor of restoring our country as crazy killers; it's ALL a result of Satan's deception.

Yet it is good to know that amidst this world of lying we have something to remind us what we really believe! Yes, Satan, we know what God actually says because we have His Word!

Don't abandon the Word, don't abandon truth! "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Tim. 4:3)

It is so easy to "turn away" when you choose to no longer stay informed. Don't let this happen to you.

Stay plugged into truth before your own ideologies are twisted.