MEDIA & ETHICS | JANUARY 31, 2022

Resolutions—For the Media & the Rest of Us

2022 pad — Photo by LanaSweet/Shutterstock.com

It’s the season when the New Year is still on its 31-day warranty when we can take a good long look at our actions and how they forecast our fate in the coming year. Time, in other words, for those New Year’s resolutions.

Here are some suggestions.

For the media:

I resolve to stick to the facts, no matter how boring or optimistic they may be.

I resolve to hold myself accountable for what I post or write, even if no one else does.

I resolve to remove all adjectives in referring to a religion or group.

I resolve to accord myself the dignity of integrity.

I resolve to judge myself on the quality of my prose, rather than on the cleverness of my jibes.

I resolve to do my research, even if it means finding out the truth about a minority group or its individual members.

I resolve to stop doing hatchet pieces on people of goodwill.

I resolve to remove all adjectives in referring to a religion or group.

And for the rest of us:

I resolve not to succumb to clickbait.

I resolve not to automatically believe everything.

I resolve to realize that if reading something makes my gorge rise in resentment or anger at someone or something, then that was precisely its intent, and why should I surrender my sweet temper just to satisfy some stranger’s ulterior motives?

I resolve not to share posts on social media that sew doubt, dismay, anger or hate.

I resolve to love myself enough to keep loving others, despite our differences.

I resolve that if I let myself hate anything, it will only be hate itself.

I resolve to discuss rather than argue, talk rather than fight, never jump to conclusions, and always permit myself to be corrected if I’ve made an error in fact, judgment or assumption.

If we can make and keep these resolutions, I can guarantee you that 2022 will show a marked improvement over 2021.

Will it be easy to keep these resolutions? The truth is they are almost impossible to keep if you don’t care about people and if you don’t believe in their basic goodness and decency. In fact, you can use that as a yardstick next time you’re online. To the degree that the material you click reflects a violation of these resolutions, that is the degree to which the author rejects and reviles human beings—and that includes you. And if you permit yourself to go on reading and believing someone who, at heart, doesn’t even like you, well that’s on you, and you should review your own resolutions.

Good luck. And Happy New Year!

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AUTHOR

John Evans

John Evans has written for theater and the big screen. His essays, fiction and poetry have appeared in several publications on the East and West Coasts.

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