Evaluating Sources – Data Gathering and Analysis – Survive with Will

Evaluating Sources – Forty Years of Data Gathering and Analysis

Every day we are inundated with a deluge of new data and “perspectives.” Perspectives are a crude, often very crude, form of analysis. The average person is way too busy with the demands of the consumerist treadmill to deal with that deluge. Jobs, cars, the new iPhone 200, the 700 inch TV, the $2000 whizbang outdoor grill, demand so much attention. All so that they can spend their weekends with friends, glued to the TV watching sports games, drinking alcohol to self-medicate, and arguing over millionaire sports player’s stats. They don’t have time or the resources to learn and gain the experience to better their lives and those around them. It is also a lot of work to maintain vigilance, situational awareness, and risk management/assessment in order to be safe and secure. That’s what we have a bloated government and armed law enforcers for, right?

Take the best interest of you, your family, your close circle, and tribe/community into your sphere of management. Don’t leave your peace of mind, safety, security, liberty, or freedom in the hands of others. No one will put your needs (not wants) first, except you.

I offer this advice when you select sources of analysis:

Trust but regularly verify (everyone needs to trust someone)
Reject those who consistently offer negative analysis.
1. Nothing is always right or always wrong.
Select someone who provides direct empirical data and source points for the in-depth data.
A genuinely skilled analyst is able to wade through the muck of negative data and decern a positive direction and plan of action to not only survive it but grow and prosper through it.

Once you have found a few of those trusted analysts, you have a baseline from which to work. Having them does not mean that you don’t need to work. The trusted analysts will provide a jumping-off point, a guide, a poke in the side for your own research. Your experience, place in life, work, etc. will give you a unique perspective. When you search and go down the rabbit hole to find, verify, or clarify data, you may find things that the source would never look at. The information that you find should be logged and then shared with others for them to refine wherever possible. You will own the data because you will be part of its development.

The fuel for the machine of self-determination and personal responsibility is wisdom.

(See the articles under the category – Forms of Reasoned Thought.)

I have linked to each relevant article in my suggested order:

True Preparedness Demands Effort

Liberty, Freedom, and Sovereignty

Reactive Response Forfeits Liberty and Freedoms

Survival, Altruism, and Self Interest

How to Handle Raw Data from Sources

Beware Pseudointellectualism

Fact Checking & Data Processing

When facts are not the whole story

Knowledge is NOT Power