Tell Me More!

And don't worry, I'll never criticize one thing you have to say.

“…they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”  2 Timothy 4:3

Just because we like or follow a public figure, and just because we like most of the things they say, doesn’t mean we can’t (or shouldn’t) criticize them, especially if they are making money by being a public figure!

Alex Jones:  I’ve heard this guy tell his audience how he is so full of the “Holy Spirit” and in the next breath scream “F” you or throw a tantrum and walk off the air to go scream at his employees.

Mark Levin:  I’ve heard this monster say people who want liberty are “kooks”.  I’ve also heard him rejoice at the literal murder of people he disagrees with because they “might” be a terrorist.  He believes the “Patriot” Act is one of the best pieces of legislation ever created.  

Sean Hannity:  This guy loves “vaccines” as much as he loves his 7-figure income.

Tucker Carlson:  His father was part of the CIA and who knows what other secrets are under the surface.

Elon Musk:  Totally on the transhumanist bandwagon.   Loves the idea of brain chips being in every person on earth.  But don’t worry, he says it should be voluntary.

Russell Brand:  Yes, he has repented of his past life as a literal man-whore and drug addict.  I appreciate his candor.  But he’s still just a human being with flaws.  *And* he’s cashing in on his new found beliefs.

The list is endless

We should *always* stay suspicious and always stay on our toes. All public figures should be held to a higher standard and be scrutinized like crazy.

Granted, we do not know people’s hearts, but many public figures have always ended up disappointing us.  Some of you may not remember Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Bakker, and other televangelists who were cashing in on Christianity in America in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  Yes, they said a lot of great things, some of them even did some great work, but they all had skeletons in their closets.  Most of them were getting rich off what was popular at the time.  

Yes, we should enjoy hearing things we agree with from people, while remembering these people are not Gods.  They are human beings.  They are not infallible. We must remember these people are also providing entertainment.  We should never put all our trust and hope in any of them.  We should never get so enamored by them that we are unwilling to say one bad thing about them, or start screaming at someone who points out anything negative about them, especially while we are raking people espousing opposite views over the coals.

When we are unwilling to criticize or scrutinize someone we typically agree with, we are jumping on the left/right paradigm bandwagon. People with the opposite views (especially political views) do this all the time.  We should be *better* than them.  We should be willing to say, “yes, I agree with most of what so-and-so says, but I also know they are just human and have flaws and qualities I don’t appreciate as well.”  We must be willing to admit the fact that these public figures are making money by telling people things they want to hear.  We must stop placing so much trust in people who cash in on whatever narrative is popular and is gaining traction at the time. 

I have much more respect and admiration for those who express their opinion and post their content for free, or those who get by on a very limited budget, than those who are constantly selling their wares, begging for support, and threatening the public by saying they will not be able to do any work if they don’t get money.  

I can list quite a few people off the top of my head that did life changing work without getting rich!  Mother Teresa died penniless, but her work will never be forgotten.  She changed untold numbers of lives by *living* what she believed.  Gandhi is a similar figure.  These people had their flaws as well.  We are, after all, only human.  The difference between these types of figures and many of the ones we see now is they did not personally get rich or make money from their activism (there’s a difference between supporting someone financially so they can do their work and that person promoting themselves to get rich… that conversation for another time).  

I’m not saying that people who make money by telling people what they want to hear and by being on a certain “side” of an issue don’t have value.  I’m not saying we should stop listening to what they have to say.  I’m saying we *must* be willing to be skeptical.  We must be willing to criticize them. We *must* question them. 

More importantly than anything I mentioned above, we must look in the mirror at the person who actually has the power to *really* change things.  It is us.  You and me.  We are the ones who have the power.  No one who makes money by telling us what we like to hear is necessarily changing anything.  It’s the people on the ground that make the difference.  The people “living” the changes they want to see in the world rather than just talking about it. And, you may disagree, but I believe that difference can be made even if we had never heard of any of the people listed at the top of my post.