The Shadow
Welcome back, Shadowers! Over the past year in the Highlands, we’ve had front-row seats to what can only be described as the end of the “Cirque du Soirée: The Bad Boy Years” of alternate realities. Sure, everyone is entitled to their own opinions—but in the Highlands, some of our leaders had been out there juggling alternative facts like flaming bowling pins with nary a care for the scorching truth underneath. When you scratch the surface, though, it’s amazing how quickly the cold, hard official records told a very different tale.
But before we dive in, let’s take a moment to honor the latest plot twist in the larger media world: X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook have said goodbye to their fact-checking departments. However, some herald this as a win for free speech, a chance for the truth to finally emerge. Others argue this decision is like removing the lifeguards and parents at a public pool filled with toddlers without swim diapers.
Another delightful contributor to the alternate reality bonanza is the meteoric rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Sure, these fancy apps are mind-blowingly good at some things, but they come with one tiny, irritating quirk: hallucinating. No, not the tie-dye, Woodstock kind—this is the kind where they made up completely false information with the confidence of a rock star… loud, confident, and wrong. Things have gotten so bonkers over at Apple that they just pulled the plug on their “Apple Intelligence” feature, which had taken to fabricating headlines like it was auditioning for a tabloid.
And—not to be outdone, Google yelled, “Hold my search bar!” Their AI-generated gem recently attacked a user for being stupid and a waste of a human being and said to please die, human! In another case, Ai brilliantly advised putting glue on pizza to stop the toppings from sliding off.
Dear Shadowers, we’ve arrived. We have reached a crossroads in our society—a moment so profound it makes “What’s the meaning of life?” seem like a warm-up act. Now, we’re faced with the heavyweight existential question of our time: “What defines Truth?”
Now, I’m sure our founding fathers were smart pizza eaters and knew not to tilt the box vertically when the delivery guy handed over the pie. But even they couldn’t have predicted this ballyhoo. Could Jefferson and Franklin have envisioned a future where citizens—armed with smartphones—would wade mindlessly through rivers of digital nonsense, fishing for facts, regardless of any alignment in truth, other than for the pure reason that it supports their personal beliefs? Or, better yet, simply inventing new ones when the truth proves inconvenient?
If they had, the First Amendment might have included an audit process like the IRS to ensure what you’re saying is actually true. Well, actually, we have that process, it’s called the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But even that safety mechanism is also under scrutiny and attack.
So this brings me to a quote from the late Senator Daniel Moynihan, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
In our new world of un-fact checked information, I’m not sure whether this statement still rings true. However, what I do question is, what’s the motivation behind it? For example, if there are two sides to a coin, what if one of them was created for the simple reason of fostering greed, corruption, and self-enrichment? Or perhaps there’s nothing nefarious, and we, as a society, are just grappling with new sciences like Quantum Physics, where facts can exist in two completely contradictory states until someone observes them—or, in our case, until someone argues about them on Facebook. In today’s world, it seems like reality depends entirely on your angle of observation or which media channel you follow. Will we ever return to a unified single truth? Or is the beginning of an age filled with multiple truths?
Let’s put that to the test locally. In last week’s Shadow, coverage of the Covington City Council reorganization meeting stirred up quite the kerfuffle. Some folks thought it was truth to power, while others dumped it into the immature BS humor category. But here’s the thing: when pressed, the critics didn’t have a shred of evidence to refute the facts presented. They didn’t counter with documents, video evidence, or meeting minutes—they countered with insults and rockstar conviction.
But as the last election so gloriously revealed, misinformation strutting around in a cheap “fact” suit was finally dragged into the daylight like a raccoon caught raiding the garbage. Our City Council leaders, who have apparently been enjoying a decade-long accountability vacation, suddenly found themselves in the hot seat, thanks to the local news outlets and many folks daring to speak truth to power. And that was echoed by the voters on election night, voting resoundingly to end this sort of bad behavior.
However, let’s be real—it’s a tough road to truth and accountability, and it comes at a high price. The Virginian Review, the Shadow, and others who spoke up were retaliated against, defamed, and ridiculed for going against the alternative realities being sold on the street.
But in the end, real truth won, showing that yes, Virginia, Santa Claus can deliver FOIA powered fact.
So here’s one truth for you: The Shadow and voters aren’t here to win popularity contests, and their message is loud and clear: the Highlands is done with the era of shrugging off shady behavior. We’re not hitting snooze on accountability anymore, no matter how much some people miss their unchecked reign of cozy cronyism. So, buckle up, folks—because transparency is here, and it’s not going anywhere. Truth, backed by FOIA, will exist to ensure everyone’s playing on a level ball field.
And finally, yesterday offered us a fascinating juxtaposition of ideals and approaches as we observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day alongside the second Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump. America has decided to open Pandora’s box and dump its contents onto the kitchen table to sort out what we’re going to keep and what no longer serves us. Truth is one of those items under inspection. So, along with King’s vision of a “I have a Dream” to Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again,” we’ve got a lot of pieces to examine. The point I’m going to leave you with is, you should always be questioning your government no matter who’s in charge.
You’ll find me standing over with fellow Shadower Grumpiest Fossil, who said in a previous article, “I’m looking forward to coming back to this post at the end of the year.”
Well, folks, I’m out of time and out of coffee, but hopefully, you’re staying warm and safe in all this wintery weather. Don’t forget to bring your pet indoors during the extreme cold. Shadowers Bonnie Keyser and Milton Mays have been posting wonderful photos of the wintery paradise around the Highlands in the Shadow Facebook group. Their photos are an incredible testament to Mother Nature at her finest.
