Driving for Integrity

On the way into work this morning, I was flipping channels on my XM, hoping to find something to listen to, to inspire me, to sing-a-long, to get me pumped. Nothing. So I tuned it to talk radio, and that was a bad idea. Spiralling downward, into a morass of doublespeak and misguided conviction. As I flipped from one news program to another, from the America Left to the America Right channels, from liberals to conservatives and back again, I was smacked with this question: WHERE'S THE INTEGRITY?

• The Center for Public Integrity - this appears to be a liberal leaning investigative organization, looking for ways that the Republicans are lying, thieving criminals
  
• Integrity - this is an orgainization promoting "A witness of God's inclusive love to the Episcopal Church and the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community"
  
• IntegrityMedia.com - I've got some albums/projects from these folks, but is this the right use of the word?
  
• CENTER FOR ACADEMIC INTEGRITY - pretty self-explanatory
  
• Alliance for Bio-Integrity - protecting our food:"Preserving the Safety of Our Food, the Health of Our Environment, and the Harmony of Our Relationship with Nature"
  
• Filtered Internet by Integrity Online - tagline: "YeeHaw, it's fun!"
  
• Integrity in Science: A CSPI Project
  
• Promise Keepers: Men of Integrity

The question I want to ask is who gets to define integrity? Who gets to decide right and wrong? Who gets to determine who's truthful and who's lying? These links are just some of the first page hits from Google on INTEGRITY, and it seems like everyone has a different meaning and agenda for the word as it pertains to the respective goals.

It's an election year. Both sides are seeking to smear the other side as unfit for political service. Meanwhile, no one knows who's telling the truth; no one knows who's right. There is no integrity, no love, no peace in what's being said back and forth. And that bothers me.
- posted by Rick @ 08:44