In Very Brief Defense of the Duran and Other Alternative Sources of Information
People I care for and respect have criticized The Duran as a source for information indicating that it has a right wing bias. It may at times, perhaps frequently, but not always, but to me that’s irrelevant. I value objectivity, when I can find it, but I also believe that if one seeks truth and understanding, one needs to examine the perspectives of others as they see them, not as drawn by their opponents. That permits the evolution of the empathic perspective essential to problem solving rather than the theatrical rhetoric so useful for self-delusion. I read news from many sources representing many perspectives from many parts of the world daily, share many and use them all to decide on the themes for my articles, and I like it that way.
The Duran is useful not only for the perspectives it provides but, in this era of filtered and censored news in the United States, some imposed by others and some self-imposed in order to avoid endangering our own sometimes calcified views, it provides information not available elsewhere, certainly not on the mainstream media. Indeed, were it not for alternative sources my world view would be as skewed and narrow as that which the very, very few are successfully imposing on the many, and that is something I and others seek to change.
I focus on The Duran in this very short article, not because of any overweening importance it plays as one of my sources but because it’s being attacked by well meaning, intelligent friends who believe themselves progressive but are being drawn into the gravity well of a very dark hole (intellectually speaking), one from which alternative perspectives are barred lest they infect the purity of the one and only truth.
It’s not for nothing, metaphorically speaking, that times when that perspective prevails are referred to in brighter times as Dark Ages. Eras, not when negative perspectives roamed free, but when access to different perspectives was frowned upon, limited and ridiculed rather than considered and addressed.
_______
© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2017; all rights reserved. Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.
Guillermo Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia although he has primarily lived in the United States of America (of which he is a citizen). Until recently he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales. He has academic degrees in political science (the Citadel), law (St. John’s University), international legal studies (New York University) and translation studies (the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies). He can be contacted at wacalvo3@autonoma.edu.co or guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at www.guillermocalvo.com.
�h� �Po��D|��8�+�m
