Why We Question Everything

Written by John Leake on April 5, 2024. Posted in Current News

Whenever I post an essay or report on our Substack, I always carefully review all of the reader comments and try to learn from them.

Some commentators graciously share additional information or alternative points of view. Others offer constructive criticism. Others passionately beg to differ, which I also find useful, as it may point to true deficiencies in my data or reasoning about it. I’ve long believed that if you want to improve at anything, your critics are far more useful than your friends.

The only sentiment that I find useless is hostility to the simple act of questioning official narratives about major public policy issues and events.

Here on the Courageous Discourse Substack, we question everything and we welcome the participation of others who question everything. There was a time not so long ago when journalism was understood as the business of questioning the actions and assurances of people in power.

The point of journalism is to let the high and mighty know that they are being watched, and their representations of reality are being questioned. If our rulers yield to the temptation to abuse their power for their benefit or the benefit of their cronies, their actions will be discovered and reported to the citizenry, who will then demand that they be held to account.

Those who are hostile to the act of questioning frequently express their hostility as follows:

1). You are a conspiracy theorist!

2). You are not an expert about this subject matter, so you have no right to question the officially designated experts!

Both of these assertions are almost invariably and obviously fallacious. Questioning an official narrative is not the same as formulating a theory of an alternative explanation of what happened. It’s merely the act of pointing out that the official narrative seems implausible or suspicious.

IF one’s questions are answered in a satisfying way, then one may feel confident in ceasing his inquiry. However, if one’s questioning is met with the angry response, “Quit questioning, you conspiracy theorist!” this deepens my suspicion that something is being concealed or distorted.

As for the accusation that ONLY an officially recognized expert has the right to question things: We live in an era in which much of what we are told is patently questionable to anyone who has retained his common sense.

Because we have a terrible public education system, and because our people are constantly being distracted by nonsensical things, it has become ever easier for those in power to manipulate and deceive the public.

The Francis Key bridge disaster is a perfect example. The disaster is an extreme and wildly anomalous event that has caused incalculable damage to critical infrastructure. The disaster will probably cost tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars.

Immense technology, decades of experience, and multiple layers of security have been developed to prevent this kind of disaster from happening. Thus, the mere fact that it happened demands exhaustive scrutiny and investigation.

In my reporting on the disaster, I merely pointed out that a rudder command was almost certainly required to steer the 95,000 ton vessel directly into the bridge’s pier—literally a direct hit on the ship’s stem

—NOT a narrow dodge to the left or the right of the pier, NOT a glancing blow, but an inelastic collision between the ship’s stem and the pier that demolished the entire bridge.

Maybe the rudder command was accidental and the result of panic. Maybe it was the result of a mechanical failure in the steering gear or a computer glitch. I don’t know. Only a thorough investigation could determine how this happened.

It’s not enough for the Biden administration to say (immediately after the disaster occurred)—”It’s just an accident and we’ll pay for it.” The question is: How on earth did such an extreme event happen?

If you don’t like me asking questions, you will easily find an array of other newsletters and services that do not.

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