When I write articles lately, they\u2019re usually columns with an Opinion header near the editorial section. Most writers try to back their opinions up with research and information. I\u2019m no different. However, some readers can be easily swayed regardless of the facts involved. This was clear to me when I ate dinner at a neighbour\u2019s home recently. I chatted with my host about a syndicated columnist who gives succinct opinions about all sorts of world politics.<\/p>\n
The writer\u2019s accessible approach makes it seem like his opinions are solid. His tone is breezy and confident. But he covers so many different world events and conflicts that I wondered how he knew so much about it all. My host suggested he had a large staff to help him. I doubted this. Writing\u2019s just not that profitable these days.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why I grew to doubt this columnist\u2019s work. When it came to how he analyzes Israel and the Middle East, I have some academic background in the subject and I read widely. I saw where I disagreed with his assumptions. In several cases, I had more information about the issues than he presented. I saw his bias. I questioned what I read. Yes, his work is always on the newspaper\u2019s editorial page. It\u2019s always an analysis piece but that doesn\u2019t mean his facts and conclusions are always correct. Now when I read his work, I see the \u201cmansplaining\u201d tone. He\u2019s overconfident and oversimplifies big conflicts. Sadly, I suspect few people call him on it.<\/p>\n
My host and I had this exchange while talking about mainstream media. In North America, we like to think our journalism is objective, fair and impartial. When I was a kid, my family visited relatives in France. I noticed the sheer quantity of publications on the French newsstands. More than one relative explained that they subscribed to certain newspapers that represented their political view and bought others with differing views. This way, they could get a full picture of world events. They acknowledged that everyone had biases and that media wasn\u2019t objective. The way to get a fair representation of events was by doing more: more reading, more information gathering, critical comparison and analysis.<\/p>\n
My recent Talmud study, from the tractate Bava Batra, has taken me through some fun \u201ctall tale\u201d narratives from Rabbah bar bar Hanna. He was prone to exaggeration. In Bava Batra 73, he sees enormous antelopes and a frog as big as 60 houses. He claims that a dragon swallows the frog, which is then eaten by a raven. The raven then sat in a tree. Can you believe, he says, how sturdy that tree was?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When Dr. Sara Ronis introduces these stories in the My Jewish Learning essay for this page, she calls them what they are: a real fish tale. (You should have seen the fish that got away!) These myths also perhaps have parallels to a Zoroastrian text called the Bundahishn, according to Drs. Reuven Kipperwasser and Dan Shapira. The stories might be crazy, but they were floating around in the ether of multicultural Babylonian marketplaces. Rabbah bar bar Hanna returns to the study hall with his crazy stories. The other rabbis call him on his nonsense. They insult him and call him names, criticizing his choices. There are lots of modern scholarly opinions about why the other talmudic rabbis do this, and what it means. It\u2019s a topic for academic debate.<\/p>\n However, what if this is an ancient reminder for us? What if, during this period of Elul, when we\u2019re supposed to start doing serious introspection, we\u2019re also supposed to be examining exactly what crazy stories we\u2019re swallowing? Imagine social media and news outlets as our marketplace. Maybe we\u2019re bringing home Zoroastrian tall tales and repackaging them for our own consumption. The rabbis teach us in Bava Batra that swallowing these fish tales whole is not the smartest move. The rabbis ask why Rabbah bar bar Hanna didn\u2019t just stop and think more before bringing this \u201cstuff\u201d home with him.<\/p>\n We\u2019re often plied with misinformation \u2013 about the war in Israel, but also about other news. What do we know about Russia and Ukraine, repression in Iran, the Uyghurs or the Sudanese crisis? How much propaganda has been sent our way and who paid for it? It\u2019s hard to tell. Too often, a seemingly objective, sincere journalist\u2019s narrative might mislead us simply because their unconscious bias and opinion is submerged in the text. The editor\u2019s headline guides us, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Worse, sometimes it\u2019s not subconscious bias. Sometimes, it\u2019s bots or outright propaganda, paid for by a country that wants to mess up North American elections or culture. I\u2019m not a conspiracy theorist. I believe that, like the rabbis suggest to Rabbah bar bar Hanna, one should reflect on things you read or hear, really look at them, and think critically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This season\u2019s the time when we\u2019re supposed to be examining our deeds since last year. Most of us were guilty of complacency in this past year. Last Sukkot, we couldn\u2019t have imagined what was ahead. If someone had described what was to come, we would have accused them of telling an abhorrent tall tale. For many, Oct. 7 and its aftermath have been one scary, real and gruesome nightmare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to understand complacency. We want to feel safe. We don\u2019t want there to be metaphorical enormous frogs or dragons around the corner. That said, we owe it to ourselves to be like the rabbis in the study hall who called out Rabbah bar bar Hanna. Those rabbis asked bar bar Hanna to pause and think more about what he saw, read or told them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the spirit of the High Holidays, let\u2019s be true to ourselves. There is plenty of horrific real news for us to share. Let\u2019s read widely first. Let\u2019s keep our eyes open so we recognize bias and what is really happening before we pass something along. Let\u2019s avoid the rumours and speculation, too.<\/p>\n Wishing you a sweet, happy, healthy and peaceful 5785, free of misinformation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joanne Seiff<\/b> has written regularly for the Winnipeg Free Press and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I write articles lately, they\u2019re usually columns with an Opinion header near the editorial section. Most writers try to back their opinions up with research and information. I\u2019m no different. However, some readers can be easily swayed regardless of the facts involved. 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