The Voice of Lakewood: Truth Be Told

By: Shloimy Blau

When engaged in the art of words, the possibilities are endless. There are practically no rules, other than basic grammar. Therefore, practically any point can be articulated in manners ranging from mild to caustic.

It is frequently assumed that the most effective way to articulate a point is by using the sharpest, most absolute wording that will make an unmistakable impression upon the reader or listener. In reality, however, it is quite the reverse. The harsh dramatization of a point says more about the articulator’s attitude and confidence in point than about the validity of the point itself.

When properly approaching an audience, respect must be given to their independent thinking capabilities. Attempts to sway opinions must be aimed at getting the audience to think likewise with their own minds based on the said information and perspective, as opposed to condescendingly trying to force the opinion’s validation upon them.

In this age of fast-paced media, the race to grab the ever-shortening attention span of the populace has spurred many to go nuclear. When scanning the plethora of media mediums, both old and new, one notices that the more contrarian, caustic and absolute the storyline is, the more prominence it gets. Trying to disprove longstanding, well-proven thinking on any matter or placing unequivocal blame and shame on a particular person, group of people, lifestyle or approach for any number of ills is now heralded as “refreshing” and “courageous.”

However, this approach does little besides masking the fragility of the point being made. The lack of nuance and respect simply doesn’t jibe with reality and is merely a valiant attempt to get that fact to elude the audience member.

A quick scan through some recent news events proves that point.

Last Tuesday, Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders implied that those doubting the official liberal party line pertaining to supposed manmade global warming are akin to Nazi pacifists. Sanders told fellows, “It reminds me in some ways of the debate taking place in this country and around the world in the 1930s. During that period of Nazism and pacifism’s growth – a real danger to the U.S. and Democratic countries around the world – there were people in this country and in the British Parliament who said ‘Don’t worry: Hitler’s not real. It’ll disappear.’”

The timing for such a ludicrous statement could not be more telling. If there was ever a time that the veracity of the decades-old global warming hyperbole was deeply in question, it is now.

In recent months, the “Climategate” scandal has rocked the world of science and politics. Hacked emails from top British scientists who “proved” the conventional global warming wisdom revealed that they were okay with fudging facts, withholding evidence and refusing to entertain any alternative theory in order to further their movement to remake the world’s lifestyle with religious-like zeal.

Only shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the purportedly vaunted UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) shrill declaration that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 was based on a student essay and article in a mountaineering magazine.

Most of all, this year’s nasty winter has severely dampened global warming alarmists’ credibility. Polls in recent months, particularly in the United States, have shown significantly increased public skepticism on the matter.

So much for the decades of doomsday predictions by these alarmists, who lacked solid scientific proof.

Another recent political development echoes the above.

Top Justice Department official David Margolis recently announced that former Bush administration Justice Department lawyers Jay Bybee and John Yoo were cleared from disbarment, other disciplinary measures or criminal prosecution.

Last year, Bybee and Yoo were the favorite whipping boys of the Obama administration and American liberals, along with the CIA, due to their roles in approving and implementing Bush-era enhanced interrogation techniques for high-level terrorists after 9/11. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder were all over the map on this issue, but pretty much left the door open on potentially going after these officials full force.

Seeking to justify such an unprecedented move, the administration pointed out that they were, of course, not looking for political payback, but needed to get to the bottom of such grave violations of American values. Now that the political winds have changed, the administration has shelved this supposedly noble idea and actually implemented an increasing number of Bush-like national security policies.

Unfortunately, though, much damage has already been done. The administration’s politically driven attacks on America’s counterterrorism officials has boosted terrorists’ morale and lowered the morale of American officials. Following the administration’s badgering of intelligence officials, former CIA Executive Director Alvin Bernard Krongard remarked that morale at the agency “is down to minus 50.”

In our very own backyard, it is the teachers’ unions that are back to their game of desperate shrill deception.

Newly-minted Governor Chris Christie is thankfully abandoning the ways of his predecessors and actually being straightforward to New Jersey residents about the State’s financial predicaments and necessary solutions. Facing a $2.2 billion budget gap, and with the option of further raising taxes in this overtaxed state unwise, Christie ordered a freeze on state spending. These measures would result in a $475 million reduction (out of over $11 billion) in the State’s school aid for this fiscal year, which Christie has ensured won’t directly affect the classroom, all the while the governor is working toward restructuring teachers’ pensions.

Nevertheless, the powerful teachers’ unions, fearful of not holding a New Jersey official not in their back pockets, are waging a nasty campaign against any policy that may imperil their stranglehold on the taxpayer. Spending in New Jersey public schools rose by 8% last year to $13,601 per pupil. Additionally, as Christie pointed out, under the current system, teachers contribute $62,000 toward their pensions, yet receive over $1.6 million in pension and medical benefits over their lifetime.

True to their tactics against any fiscal discipline or talk of school vouchers or other school choice initiatives, the unions are railing that their loss of monopolized power will hurt the children. The New Jersey Education Association (teachers’ union) President Barbara Keshishian declared that cutting school budgets “is the path to educational ruin.”

While the merits and pain of the school cuts or other controversial policy can be legitimately debated, such transparently disingenuous talk offers many clues as to who is telling the truth.

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