Skip to main content

User account menu

  • Log in
  • Rss
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Shopping cart 0
Cart

Search

Search
Home The Yazoo Herald

Domain menu for Yazoo Herald (mobile)

  • Post
    • Leaderboard
    • Post Dashboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
    • Lifestyles
    • Videos
  • Sports
  • E-Editions
  • Social
  • Opinion
    • Submit a Letter
    • Columns
    • Comments
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Polls
  • Calendar
  • State
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
    • Website Rates
    • Legal Notices
    • Newspaper Rates
    • Place a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Post
    • Leaderboard
    • Post Dashboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
    • Most Read This Week
    • Most Read This Month
    • Most Read This Year
    • Most Read All Time
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
    • Lifestyles
    • Videos
  • Sports
  • E-Editions
    • Archives
  • Social
    • Anniversaries/Births
    • Engagements/Weddings
    • Schools
    • Submit an Anniversary
    • Submit a Birth
    • Submit an Engagement
    • Submit School News
    • Submit Wedding
  • Opinion
    • Submit a Letter
    • Columns
    • Comments
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Polls
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • State
  • Advertising
    • Website Rates
    • Legal Notices
    • Newspaper Rates
    • Place a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary

Too many conspiracy theories

By Charles Dunagin , READ MORE > 6,414 Reads
On Mon, 01/04/2021 - 04:17 PM

I had one thing right in a column I wrote a year ago about 2020.

After noting some things that would make headlines in the next 12 months, including a national election, I noted:

“The biggest news story for 2020 may actually turn out to be something totally unexpected, some natural or human calamity.”

COVID-19 certainly filled that bill. No question about what most defined the past year.

I’m making no predictions for  2021, and I’ll resist the temptation to say it can’t be a more stressful year. Things can always get worse, but topping the current pandemic is a high bar.

Another thing that was prevalent in 2020 — and is carrying over to this year — is the prevalence of conspiracy theories.

Questioning the generally accepted truth or the conventional wisdom about an event or topic isn’t necessarily bad. Some things need to be questioned.

But it can go too far and it is, thanks in part to President Trump who fans the flames of unsubstantiated allegations.

A recent NPR/Ipsos poll reported 40 percent of respondents said they believe the coronavirus was made in a lab in China even though there is no evidence for this. One-third of Americans believe that voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election, despite the fact that courts, election officials and the Justice Department have found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.

Chris Jackson, a pollster with Ipsos, says, “Increasingly, people are willing to say and believe stuff that fits in with their view of how the world should be, even if it doesn't have any basis in reality or fact."

Here’s something Christians might consider when weighing the latest conspiracy theory. Eddie Rester, one of the pastors at Oxford University United Methodist Church,  wrote on Facebook shortly after Christmas:

“As I watch yet another round of conspiracy theories rise up around the suicide bomber in Nashville (a tomahawk missile attack? Really people?), many of them perpetuated by well-meaning Christians, I feel compelled to share again why I give zero credence to conspiracy theories that require grand deceit and secret-keeping.

“Here’s the reason: Humans.

“That’s right. Humans.

“In my work as a pastor for almost 25 years I’ve found that humans cannot keep secrets. Two people can’t keep a secret much less any vast network of people who would have to keep secrets in order to do some of the things people have suggested around 9/11, the moon landing, the pandemic, the election, or the bombing in Nashville. And once you poke gently beneath the surface of a conspiracy theory you find a web of untruth that is fairly simple to untangle.

“So, Christians, before you hit the forward or offer a ‘this will make you think’ maybe remember that we’re called to offer truth, not fear mongering, not untruth, and definitely not easily disprovable lies.

“The writer of the Book of Proverbs spends a lot of time talking about how we use our words. Maybe it’s time to remember some of those teachings (Proverbs 4:24): Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you.”

Well put Rev. Rester.

I have known people who were skeptical about generally accepted facts but would tend to believe every wild rumor they heard and willingly pass it on..

As Pogo,  a comic strip character created by cartoonist Walt Kelly and syndicated to American newspapers from 1948 until 1975, used to say: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

We should recall President Ronald Reagan’s  “trust but verify” proverb he used in nuclear disarmament discussions with the Russians in the 1980s.

Reagan didn’t originate the saying. It was an English version of an old Russian proverb, “Doveryai, no proveryai” – meaning that a responsible person verifies things before committing himself.

‹ PreviousNext ›

News

Possible storms ahead

According to Yazoo County Emergency Management Director Jack Willingham, isolated severe storm will… READ MORE

Ward family returns to Vanjon's
Hopson introduces Legislative Doctor of the Day
Argument leads to shooting
Carter Crow elected MAIS State Student Council President
City to maintain COVID restrictions until vaccines distributed

Sports

Kenneth Gainwell declares for the NFL Draft

Former Yazoo County football star Kenneth Gainwell has officially declared for the upcoming NFL… READ MORE

Jacolby Little scores 17 points and grabs 10 rebounds to lead Woolfolk to victory
Dylan Dendy signs with Mississippi Delta Community College
Sports Column: Drew Brees leaves an unforgettable Saints legacy. The story started in Jackson.
Lanie Potter scores 21 points to lead Lady Mavericks to victory
Dendy and Poe power Mavericks past Raiders

Sign Up for Notifications of Local Breaking News

Start E-mail NotificationsStop E-mail NotificationsStart Mobile NotificationsStop Mobile Notifications

E Edition Button NEW

Obituaries

Grady Lynn Howell

Grady Lynn Howell, 81, of Yazoo City went to be with the Lord on

Rita Hearst Middleton
Wallace Walker
Carl McDaniel
Dennis Burrell
Annie McMaster

Most Recent

Congressman Guest Announces New Committee Assignment

Today, Congressman Michael Guest (MS-03) announced his selection to serve on the House Committee on… READ MORE

Weekly Newsletter - From the Desk of Commissioner Brent Bailey
Police to give Mississippi lawmakers report cards as they tackle criminal justice reform, prison crisis
Lawmakers could take lessons from the historic teacher pay raise of 2000
House members can get paid for work at home, but senators must come to Capitol
Community Heritage Preservation Grants Awarded to 18 Projects Across the State

Most Read News Article

  • Week
  • Month
  • Year
  • All Time

Marshall Ramsey: Teacher Raise

The senate has bills. -- Cartoon by Marshall Ramsey, Mississippi Today - January 22, 2021 --

Hyde-Smith: Additional $63.6 Million for Army Corps Work in Miss., Including $9.2 Million for Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps
Charter schools receive taxpayer dollars. Should their board members follow state ethics laws?
Marshall Ramsey: Session
Deputy injured while pursuing drag racers
Ward family returns to Vanjon's

Editorial: Polio and Covid

The biggest question about the coronavirus vaccines that are in the early stage of distribution is… READ MORE

Harold Fisher
Judge William Henry Barbour Jr.
Marshall Ramsey: Teacher Raise
Carl McDaniel
HOSEMANN: Our 2021 Goal: Investing in Mississippi’s Greatest Asset, Our Citizens

Governor Reeves explains "Safer at Home" policy

On his Facebook post, Gov. Tate Reeves explained that Mississippians are now "encouraged" but not "… READ MORE

Holmes Community College hosting football tryouts
Timmy Lloyd Helms
Shannon Marie Lungrin
Indians remain unbeaten in district
Warrene Chisolm

Riding After a Dream

It all began when she was a little girl riding a stick horse. Her love of horses has provided a… READ MORE

Crimm completes term as president
Bill Beeson
Albert Woodley Cook Jr.
Shirley Summerlin
Roberta Ann Pyles

Opinion

Opinion: Reeves swings early on COVID vaccines

Gov. Tate Reeves was batting .500 this week in the decisions he made dealing with the state’s… READ MORE

Parents understand each other
Mississippians control their own destiny
Opinion: Shouting fire in a crowded theater
Opinion: Are we near the end of our nation as we know it?
Editorial: We need more men like William Barbour

Weddings and Engagements

Lifestyles

Covenant Christian Honor Roll

First Grade all As: Amelia Davis Kaidence Dent Addalyn VanGorder

From the Kitchen: Why are things always funnier in church?
Miss Lee to marry McGill on Jan. 30
From the Kitchen: Book brings back memories of my own father-in-law
Rare snow day in Yazoo
Let it Snow!

Social

Copyright 2020 • The Yazoo Herald • 1035 Grand Ave. • Yazoo City, MS 39194 • (662)-746-4911.

Emmerich Newspapers proudly serve the following Mississippi communities:

Click on the city name to visit its website.

ACKERMAN • CARROLLTON • CHARLESTON • CLARKSDALE • COLUMBIA • EUPORA • FOREST • GREENVILLE • GREENWOOD • GRENADA • HATTIESBURG • JACKSON • KOSCIUSKO • INDIANOLA • LOUISVILLE • MAGEE • MENDENHALL • McCOMB • NEWTON • PETAL • QUITMAN • SENATOBIA • WINONA • YAZOO CITY

As well as: DUMAS, Ark. • TALLULAH, La • FRANKLINTON, La.

For more information on how to extend your advertising message to these communities, click here.