The Siren and the Light
Photo of North Point Light Station in Milwaukee, WI by Helmut Fritz
Introducing two nautical legends which are important for teaching safe navigation. My shortened version of tale number one of two goes something like this:
“This is Admiral Sean Shagnasti on his majesty’s glorious flagship. Battleship King William the Third is underway and calls bridge to bridge, to the vessel, head on, two nautical miles north of us. I instruct you to turn hard-to-port. We have right of way.”
“This is humble seaman first class, Sammy Smith. You turn hard-to-starboard. This is the Peninsula Lighthouse.”
The legend is an excellent tool for teaching humility, researching before taking a stance, reality versus presumption, and more. However, there is a local problem with this story. The North Point Light Station near my home, (pictured here,) was moved over the years. Certainly it hasn’t moved quickly enough to get out of the way of important maritime traffic so the battleship vs. lighthouse legend stands, but my local lighthouse has moved. Though now nonoperational, North Point has a “long history of guiding mariners to Milwaukee” per the Wisconsin Historical Society sign near the station. The 39 foot octagonal cast-iron tower was erected in 1887. It replaced a shorter, cream city brick tower built in 1855 “too close to the eroding bluff” per the same sign. “The 4th order Fresnel lens was moved from the first tower to the current one.” https://northpointlighthouse.org/
Now, to the important second maritime tale: a legend about a siren, (a female singer not a loud thing in an ambulance,) misdirecting ships. Heinrich Heine's poem "Die Lorelei/The Lorelei" is well-known among Germans. A portion of Heine’s poem goes: (be prepared for extreme Victorian emotionalism.)
I don't know what it means
That I am so sad
A legend of bygone days
That I cannot keep out of my mind.
………..
The fairest of maidens is sitting
Up there, a beautiful delight,
…………
She's combing her golden hair.
She combs it with a golden comb,
Singing along, as well
An enthralling
And spellbinding melody.
In his little boat, the boatman
..........
does not look upon the rocky ledge
But rather high up into the heavens.
I think that the waves will devour
The boatman and boat in the end.
https://www.thoughtco.com/heinrich-heine-german-author-1444575
Basically the legend highlights a German beauty with her astonishing voice and svelte body, sitting on a riverside rock that is dangerous to water navigation. She does this to distract Rhine River boatmen from their steering duties to their maritime woe and the siren and her pirate associate’s great gain. The lines, “the boatman does not look upon the rocky ledge but rather high up into the heavens” are important.
Navigation with actual satellite pictures if necessary, is a tiny thing at the time of this writing. We don’t need lighthouses or have to worry about Lorelei sirens anymore. Today most of us carry more computing power in our pockets than the NASA team had available to them during the early moon launches. This capability is a simple commodity to us so we usually forget that with every privilege comes a responsibility.
Because of current technology and associated infrastructure, I can research in seconds what would have taken my predecessors weeks to accomplish only a generation ago. I am talking here of US Library of Congress quality information. The costs to me are negligible. Often information sources come free without my invitation. In this is our first navigational “Lorelei.”
“Look here, don’t look over there because then you will upset the bias that I am presenting” has become so prevalent in all media, whether domestic or international, whether “off the air” or online, that I have to take it for granted. Admittedly the notion of “impartial” reporting has always been dubious. However, I regularly catch news sources that even recently, were known for being “fair” in their coverage, now getting creative in their presentations. Clearly the “lighthouses” have moved. What then is the truth seeker to do?
Though “Loreleis” obviously are prevalent, (that is media unashamedly seeking to deceive,) to best deal with it I must start with focusing on my own navigation capabilities. In the paper “Self-Deception, Delusion and the Boundaries of Folk Psychology” of which I only had the will to read the Abstract, the thesis discusses the differences and close correlations between delusion and self-deception. Their point seems to be that delusion can be self-imposed. An important line in the abstract: “self-deception is due to biased treatment of evidence.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3364711/
Again, please note that I am focusing on self-deception and not intentional deception of others. Though misleading information must be of great concern, first I need to get my own lighthouse in order. Therefore the question we all must answer when looking in the mirror is, “am I intentionally self-deceiving?”
So then, how do I “fact check” myself? My only answer is getting as much information from as many varied sources as possible and then comparing their information to my own research. Here is my information source line up: (Warning, my opinion of the news providers may not agree with the Ground News or AllSides apps.)
My cell phone service provider has foisted upon me an extremely “Wokist” news clipping source that I follow somewhat. I subscribe to this service since I pay my phone bills.
DeVory Darkins Youtube is my “conservative” news clipping service. (I found him during the “they eat cats in Springfield” issue. This blogger showed videos of a Springfield citizen addressing his city council after witnessing illegal immigrants killing and eating geese in parks due to hunger.) I subscribe to his service.
I subscribe to the Epoch Times. This “conservative” paper and internet news provider possibly has the fourth largest circulation in the United States.
I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, which has the largest circulation in the United States and sports a somewhat “centrist” world view, though I am beginning to wonder about that label.
I donate to TBNIsrael and follow them closely because of the current Israel-Hamas matters. https://www.youtube.com/@TBNIsrael
At no invitation from me, I started receiving The National Circus, daily@ses2.nationalcircus.com I am somewhat following them for now. Media Bias Fact Check rates them as “Left Bias.” Reddit shows that others randomly started receiving them as well.
I am currently reading the Bible through in the German language. I will then return to reading it through in English at my next read as I usually do.
I am working through an English translation of the Quran, which is an extremely difficult read. Please be certain that you have an accurate translation if attempting this. I recommend The Generous Qur’an, https://www.amazon.com/Generous-Accurate-English-Translation-Holiest/dp/098241370X or free download, https://archive.org/details/generous-quran-usama-dakdok
I occasionally follow others too numerous to name here when they share matters of interest. I discontinue following some when they lose my trust or are no longer profitable. For example, I had a “boots on the ground” Ukrainian blogger that I stopped following when he moved out of Ukraine and became just another news clipper with opinions.
The computers in our pockets have given us astonishing privilege. Now we are either destined to idiocy by following every siren that screams loudest or we become wise navigators amongst the shoals using every lighthouse that we can. We decide that ourselves. Welcome to democracy in the twenty-first century.
