Deceit, Dishonesty and Abortion

Some people think that I think that I know everything. But of course that isn’t true. If it were true I wouldn’t have to ask that person that I’ve never met, never checked their credentials, and when I’m at a loss for words or interpretations always go to first. Her name is “Google” something or other. On my cellphone, frequently the answers to my questions are personal. That is, a lovely soft voice of a lady answers my question. Not so on my computer. I don’t get it. Never-the-less, when I’m not sure I know what I’m talking about, I ask Google. Which is what I have done in reference to the title of this column as illustrated below; Deceit - the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.

"a web of deceit"

Dishonest - behaving or prone to behave in an untrustworthy or fraudulent way.

"he was a dishonest hypocrite prepared to exploit his family"

Difference between deceit and dishonest - As adjectives the difference between dishonest and deceitful is that dishonest is not honest while deceitful is deliberately misleading or cheating.

Abortion - the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

"concerns such as abortion and euthanasia"

So, once again, Google to the rescue.

So then, we’ll begin with deceit. Why has deceit come to mind for this column?

To start with, I get so very frustrated with so many of the things that I buy online. Going through the many, sometimes thousands of illustrations that are designed to explain all of the details of the item I need and want to purchase. What I have noticed is that they highlight and emphasize what the seller thinks make the product unique and special and in so doing they distract me from receiving all of the facts that I really should have in making a purchasing decision. Consequently, I get things that are clever and cute but not what I needed. So, I have a choice, I can jump through the hoops of returning it or just eating it and reordering in hopes of actually getting what I need.

But that’s not the only form of deceit that is rampant in the world today. There is political deceit. Political deceit is not the same as product deceit, but still fits very nearly the same definition. Easily said, a politician can deceive the voter by promising to do one thing but doing another thing. Often, with post observations, we find by reviewing that politician’s voting record that he or she proclaimed one thing to get votes (to get elected) but their voting record reveals that we were deceived and got the opposite of what we wanted. This is very definitely deceitful but also seems dishonest, no matter what Miss Google says.

I guess if I put dishonest into political terms, I would say that if the news media misrepresents the facts of an issue and tells us that this or that happened in just this way while it didn’t happen that way at all, then I guess that would be dishonest. Or, to put it another way, it would be a lie. The media across the board seems to think the one who gets the most attention is the one who tells the biggest prevarication.

And now we get to the difference between deceit and dishonest. We’ve hit the politicians and politicos pretty hard so far but the terms and examples could fit so many other venues. Johnny at school cheating on his homework or brings notes to school to excuse his absence (skipping) because his tenth Grandmother died. And from there it gets worse. So, you tell me, is this deceit or dishonest or both.

And now we come to abortion. The media is having a blast with the current status of the abortion topic. And now that the Supreme Court has gotten up enough nerve to re-examine the 1973 Roe vs Wade abortion decision the media as well as both political parties, especially the Democrats, are about to blow off their lids.

How do we approach the subject of abortion, and further, how do we find facts and information that we can trust that will lead us to correct and realistic conclusions so that we can establish our own opinion as well as position? I can tell this with great assurance, it won’t be easy. We all have one problem when we seek out information to guide us toward our opinion. That is, we typically search for information that supports our prejudiced preconceptions instead of actually seeking unfiltered and unmanipulated TRUTH.

Oh, how often the words of Pontius Pilate comes to mind as he questions Jesus – “What is Truth?”

Rather, using the contemporary tool for measurement, let’s see if we can determine who profits one way or another. First of all, I would look at the abortion industry.

Planned Parenthood – $55,000,000 2021 revenue.

52,000,000 expenses.

For an outfit that size, with over 600 facilities that doesn’t seem like much profit.

According to Planned Parenthood, an abortion could cost $750 to $1500, and we could go on and on about costs and services. Other sources indicate up to $15,000. However, if you try to search abortion, mostly you get Planned Parenthood facts. As Planned Parenthood states that only 3% of its services are abortion related while another fact checker source says that it is 84%.

So, you can see that trying to make your decision about abortion is nearly impossible based on published facts, because Truth is neither a revered or reverenced trait or requirement in these days when power and money take precedence over both.

So, if we can’t trust the facts to be true, and the media views are biased, where and how do we decide our position on the abortion issue? Then we are left with another possible way, maybe the way is a moral way.

So, the next time we get together we’ll talk about whether abortion is a moral issue or not.

“Every truth has two sides; it is well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either.”

The Mule, AESOP, 6th C, BC.

“And That’s My Opinion”