Those who can make you believe absurdities; can make you commit atrocities.

— Voltaire

By Dr. Jim Ferguson

Years ago, when I was in traditional medical practice, I learned about TMI, defined by my nurse as “too much information.” One afternoon while going to my next exam room I overheard my nurse listening to recorded messages from patients. The patient’s explicit message shocked me and caused my nurse to exclaim, “TMI!” And that’s when my education began. It also prompted my medical group to institute a policy of listening to patient messages only through headphones rather than out loud which could be heard by others.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if there is too much information. We live in the information age and I’ll admit that I am an information junkie. I like being informed. And I receive joy from learning things, especially about science and history. But these days some information carries a price.

I read, watch or listen to fifteen news sources daily, including newspapers, cable, TV and news websites as well as radio. Since there is so much politicized misinformation, I feel it is necessary to consider multiple perspectives before I make up my own mind. Staying informed is my duty, but is this healthy?

Before there was 24-hour cable news, there was only the legacy “news” of alphabet TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS) and newspapers like The NY Times. The Grey Lady proclaims it has, “All the news that’s fit to print.” If we’ve learned anything in recent years, it is that truth is elusive and you can’t depend on the so-called news outlets to report non-politically. But you can’t trust our leaders either. So then, who or what can you trust? And this leads me to conclude you must, “Read widely, consider carefully and use common sense.” And follow the 3000-year-old wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6.

In a play on words, a friend recently asked me, “How can there be common sense when you have nothing in common?” She was alluding to the broken state of affairs in modern day America. With the Afghanistan catastrophe, the manufactured border crisis, rampant crime and homelessness, inflation and rising prices on gas and everything else, you wonder how iPOTUS has any approval rating, instead of just falling polls. Biden is captain of the ship and consequently carries the preponderance of blame. However, there is plenty to go around including Congress, Washington deep state bureaucrats, the media, academia, Holly-weird and those who indoctrinate rather than educate our children.

I participate in four small groups which keep me anchored. Now that I am retired from a work schedule of hospital rounds, office medical practice and night call, my weekly schedule now revolves around scheduled group meetings and Sunday worship service. Without these groups I would be adrift and as confused as Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day.

Has America finally awakened to wokeness and the destructive policies of Democrats? I asked this in one of my small group meetings and I am afraid that I came across as shrill. I learned early in my life that you can be “right “and yet be wrong. And I was wrong in this instance despite my earnest beliefs. After reflection and a heartfelt apology to the group, I have decided that after this essay I need to leave the front lines of the war for a time and take R&R just like soldiers are removed periodically from battle. My return will be contingent on my spiritual recovery.

People often ask me for a definition of being woke. The definition is far more than the past tense of being awakened. You can find a number of derivations of this ideological term, but the best I’ve found is that of J.  Michael Waller who defines Wokeness as “an extreme ideological intolerance of opposing views and the imposition of life-destroying punishments for the insufficiently woke.” President Trump defines it viscerally, “Everything woke turns to [crap].” Though bordering on the profane, Trump speaks the truth. And he certainly uses milder language than rappers or any number of unhinged starlets, bloggers or Twitter denizens. Or even the language of Obama who said, “Never underestimate Joe Biden to F*** things up.”

I needed a pep talk last week and therefore I watched a good part of Trump’s Alabama rally which was only broadcast on Newsmax. Americans are certainly not encouraged by iPOTUS’ reading his handler’s messages from the teleprompter. Nor do I find any encouraging words from Biden’s Administration, State Department, Department of Defense or Pentagon functionaries. On the other hand, President Trump said, “We will make America safe again. We will make America proud again. We will make America great again.” If the political generals at the Pentagon, woke leftists and Democrats say that these encouraging words are examples of “white supremacy,” then so be it. Quite honestly, I do not accept their premise that America is bad and they know how to run the country. Actually, they do know how to run the country down, and we are seeing it in California, New York, Portland and Chicago to name a few of the devolving states and cities run by Democrats for decades. Democrats and “progressives are not progressive, they are regressive.”

 

This is a special week for me because my book editor and I just completed the last review of my novel making it ready for publication. It will be available in the next few months in book and electronic versions. Though Kamala Harris recently advised us to buy our Christmas presents early because there will be problems with the supply, I can assure you that my book will be available and a great stocking stuffer!

I can now take a needed vacation, though few travel much anymore because of Covid fears. And I’ve concluded that I am where I am supposed to be and doing what I’m supposed to do. I thank all of my readers for making this possible.