Where was the Due Diligence?
November 11, 2008
Having just come through
the General Election of 2008 I am compelled to comment on one characteristic
of some of my friends and acquaintances that I determined was rather troubling.
In the main they were people that had not or refused to conduct their due
diligence prior to voting.
Due diligence, can be
defined as the performance of an investigation of some entity, such as
a person, a business agreement, a company, or even a school. It implies
that the performance of an investigation will be performed within the parameters
od some standard of care.
We use the process so
very often in our daily lives. If we want to buy a home or a car
we shop the marketplace and likely look at a number of options before we
buy! A number of publications exist to help us make a buying decision
such as the array produced by the Consumers Union. Specialized magazines
exist on health care, food, phones, cars and product safety, all of which
are designed to make us more knowledgeable about our purchasing.
The World Wide Web now
has so much content with regard to a variety of topics that it is staggering.
It never ceases to amaze me what I am able to discover during some form
of a subject matter search. In truth, I am at the point where
all my research on a given topic is the Internet. The great part
is that for nearly any subject, the point and counterpoint are readily
available and probably equal in number.
The distinct advantage
is that I can make a determination on the factual nature of a rumor or
the fallacy in some high sounding political rhetoric. Needless to
say a persistent plethora of prose pummeled the Democratic Presidential
Candidate, Senator Barack Obama.
Daily from one friend
or an acquaintance I received email containing letters ostensibly written
by some heretofore anonymous retired general or self proclaimed personal
witness. Each of whom had some accusation that was more preposterous
than the one prior and the amplification of those allegations was abhorrent.
Why is it that people
cannot take a moment or two to divine the truth before joining in the dissemination
of distortion and deception? Upon each receipt I went to my keyboard and
entered the assertion and having read from a variety of sources was able
to categorize virtually each one as only partly true or a bald-faced lie!
I did my due diligence,
did you? If not, then in the future I request that you take me off
whatever hate mail mailing list that transmits its trash to you!
Further, instead of mailing that diatribe of dubious authenticity, take
a moment or three to discover the truth!
