Americas' Forgotten Questions: Introduction

America is a country infatuated by the media, especially by the news media. (To avoid confusion media is hereafter used in reference to the news media) If you have any doubt of this you have only to listen to a normal conversation. Chances are great that at some point you will hear the phrases, "I saw on the news...", or, "I read in the paper..." You have very likely said these yourself in the past few days. With the importance the news plays in our lives, there are two questions the media, and more importantly, the American people, have forgotten to ask. We do very well asking who, what, where, and how. Who is running for president? What does he intend to do? How does he stand on such and such an issue? Where is he coming from? The media asks these questions well, and usually get answers. The problem lies in the fact that they, and us, leave out two vital questions:
Why?
and
Is it True?
Can you imagine a world in which these two questions were incorporated into our list of scrutinies?
Why does he believe that? Why should or should not that become law? Why should "In God we trust" be removed from our currency?
The second question is almost beyond comprehension:
Senator so and so say he is not on drugs. Is it true? Drilling in Alaska for oil will destroy hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat. Is it true? Abortion does not have any negative effects on the mother. Is it true?
Do you begin to see what I am working at? How many times do we take at face value what ever the media spits out at us? Even if what they report is the gospel truth 99% (and it is not) of the time we still need to examine it to catch the other 1%. In a perfect world the media would report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. But the world we live in is in fact far from perfect. For this reason we must examine what we read, see, or hear, and test everything to see if it is the truth.