How do yall determine which sources you read are "true"?

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,933
I was meditating on the truth of this just the other day.
I have thought about that song on and off since I heard it as a child. On surface level, it is a story of a headstrong young guy who leaves home and takes up boxing in NY, has a tough time of it but his pride stops him going back home.

I think it also contains a parable we would all do well to consider. In some ways it is even more pertinent to those who write on forums such as VC!

“Leaving home” can be taken to represent striking out on your own, with your own independent thinking. How much of that might actually be confirmation bias is alluded to in the “lies and jests” lyric. Sometimes on forums we can become sophisticated rhetoricians. The danger here is that people learn the art of persuasion such that people can become so adept they are able to persuade themselves and others that the moon is made of cream cheese!!!

Once you stand for something, you become the “Boxer” of the song, slugging it out in the ring of opinion. The danger here should be obvious - we all fight on ground we believe to be true, but going back to our young guy leaving home, those reasons for departure may not be as logical as they felt when we packed our bags. In addition, the “fight” analogy has a lot it it - when we are attacked, we hit back. This is a whole lot different to “speaking the truth in love” which seems to be the only thing that can short-circuit the argumentative cycle.

Many people find themselves in a corner in debate, fighting all comers, but I tend to think that it does no harm at all to review what we believe and why, without ego, if we are to be truly honest.

On political topics or news sources I have changed my mind significantly over the years - I used to think the BBC was telling the truth!!!

For me, I also regularly go back to my reasons for faith in God and His Word, and continue to find amazing evidence to support it. While I may have thought a whole range of dumb things when I was younger which I have subsequently changed my mind over, my faith has certainly never diminished in the light of “new evidence”.
 
Last edited:

Maes17

Superstar
Joined
Jul 27, 2017
Messages
6,521
I have thought about that song on and off since I heard it as a child. On surface level, it is a story of a headstrong young guy who leaves home and takes up boxing in NY, has a tough time of it but his pride stops him going back home.

I think it also contains a parable we would all do well to consider. In some ways it is even more pertinent to those who write on forums such as VC!

“Leaving home” can be taken to represent striking out on your own, with your own independent thinking. How much of that might actually be confirmation bias is alluded to in the “lies and jests” lyric. Sometimes on forums we can become sophisticated rhetoricians. The danger here is that people learn the art of persuasion such that people can become so adept they are able to persuade themselves and others that the moon is made of cream cheese!!!

Once you stand for something, you become the “Boxer” of the song, slugging it out in the ring of opinion. The danger here should be obvious - we all fight on ground we believe to be true, but going back to our young guy leaving home, those reasons for departure may not be as logical as they felt when we packed our bags. In addition, the “fight” analogy has a lot it it - when we are attacked, we hit back. This is a whole lot different to “speaking the truth in love” which seems to be the only thing that can short-circuit the argumentative cycle.

Many people find themselves in a corner in debate, fighting all comers, but I tend to think that it does no harm at all to review what we believe and why, without ego, if we are to be truly honest.

On political topics or news sources I have changed my mind significantly over the years - I used to think the BBC was telling the truth!!!

For me, I also regularly go back to my reasons for faith in God and His Word, and continue to find amazing evidence to support it. While I may have thought a whole range of dumb things when I was younger which I have subsequently changed my mind over, my faith has certainly never diminished in the light of “new evidence”.
Nice analogy.

I can identify with boxing too. So that makes this more relatable in a sense
 
Top