By way of Introduction
How do you decide what is
Trusted (or relatively unbiased) Sources of News and Information in
today’s seemingly chaotic free-for-all, no-holds-barred arenas of
the
Internet
and the digital worlds of the
WWW?
When I began this project, the objective
was, seemingly, quite simple: create a way to quickly reference or
cross-check subjects that I’d been reading about, following or
writing about at the time. Call it foot-noting, indexing,
cross-indexing or simply citing of sources.
Back when, the
internet (or being online) was in its infancy, I would say that I
was not at the forefront of the digital revolution but was swept up
by the early waves created by the Personal Computer (PC). I can
still recall the excitement of installing my first Modem Card
(interface) in the cloned IBM compatible computer (branded Epson),
with a 4.7Mhz CPU, 640Kb RAM, 2×5.25 Floppy-disk drives, Microsoft
DOS 3,1, EGA (upgrade over CGA) monitor, And a 24-pin Dot-matrix
printer (Canon), along with a bunch of manuals. At the time, a
$5,000 investment that began as a hobby and eventually turned into a
decades-long career.
Prior to that I had
dabble with the Commadore64 and Atari (which
was great for video games at the time!) brands. The Apple brand has
never appealed to me. I am a hand-on type of person. There’s a
difference between driving ‘stick‘ or
automatic (beyond the mechanics). One
requires half a brain, 1 foot and at least 1 arm to manage. The other
requires (even with half-a-brain) two arms
– one for the wheel and the other for the stick; and both feet – clutch,
brake and gas. And when things break down you can always ‘check
under the hood‘. Admittedly, the days for that analogy are long
gone with respect to today’s vehicles. Back then it was still possible
to tinker and even repair or improve on the vehicle yourself.
Never-the-less, since
then the development and blossoming of
the
internet led to the emergence of the
World Wide Web (WWW), its explosive growth has given us the Digital
World(s) of the 21st century. What I had been attempting, back then,
often meant endless online searches and the bookmarking of countless
sites/pages. This, eventually, became an administrative chore in itself.
Another issue, as it
turns out, I’ve been an avid consumer of news and information and have
clipped, cut and scrap-booked since grade school.
Even now, as I sit
here, numerous books on various subjects sitting on the shelves behind
me (fiction/non-fiction, philosophy, science, social and political
sciences, religions, mythologies, etc.). Many of which contain numerous
highlighted passages and personal comments in the margins, often
cross-referencing subjects or comments about ideas in fields and areas
of interest, authors, books or ideas as they occur to me. There are lots
of scribbled notes laying about that, at some point, I need to
‘digitise’. A task that has fallen behind, as I’m prone to distractions
as I now work primarily online.
Events like the U.S
Presidential elections and Administrations since Richard Nixon, Gerald
Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, G.W Bush, Barack Obama,
Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris. All historical
narratives now. Reality at the time.
The Viet-Nam war, Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of
Pigs, the Kennedys’ and Martin Luther King assasinations, The Contras
and Sandanistas, Daniel Ortega, The Perons, Manuel Noriega, Invasion of
Grenada, Margret Thatcher (The Iron Lady) and the Falkans War. Mikhail
Gorbachev, Glasnost and perestroika. The Fall of the Berlin Wall (Frankie
Goes To Hollywood – a shout out!),
There’s also the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. The over-throw of Saddam Hussein, the
death of Fidel Castro. So many and numerous revolutions and
issurrections. I can recall when Rhodesia existed, as did Burma. All
subject matters that are endless in scope.
Yet, as the most recent
events/news to dominate headlines and the world’s attention has been
things such as The COVID-19 Pandemic or Insurrection at The U.S Capitol,
a heartening realisation is that I’m no longer, merely, archiving,
indexing and crossing-indexing decades-old subjects to readily
available, trusted and verifiable sources. Which include MSM sources,
non-centralised and Trusted News and Information Sources.
But from these a
determination can be made as to what constitutes Fake-News. In times
past such news frequently fell under the label Propaganda [see Joseph
Goebel or Pravda News.
For the record, I’d like to suggest that
Trump News be equated with
Faux News.
Never-the-less, the
realisation that the information that I have been archiving was being
done in real-time was essentially a recording of history in the making.
Not history as being seen from a future perspective but in the ‘here and
now’. As it happens.
And, being a fan of
Dragonlance Lores, I find myself thinking about one of my favourite
characters of the genre, Astinus, Lorekeeper, Head Librarian of the
Great Library of Palanthas. I’m just more modest of my place in the
sands of time.
In cross-referencing of
documents of Trump and his band of bit-players (in documents that are
anywhere between 10 years to just hours or minutes-old, it is clear why
MSM organisations need to employ Fact-checkers (now an industry upon
itself) to inform consumers of Headlines, Sound-bites and Talking-heads
that YES Trump has always been a liar and a con-man. All of which is
proven as being True and Factual, rather than ‘alternative facts’.
Obviously, to most, if
it’s an ‘alternative’ to being true, a Fact, then such a ‘truth’ exists
either in the realm of fantasy or falsehood. Truth is, after all,
dependent upon verifiable facts. Veracity. Not suppositions or other
form of conjecture. A Fact is a fact. Or it is not. Lies by definition,
are without a factual basis.
In the final analysis, my interests in, and
consumption of news and information, has transformed me into a
accidental recorder of history: Today’s
News – as it happened.