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“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police … yet in their hearts, there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home — all the more powerful because forbidden — terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.” ― Winston S. Churchill
The one question I keep asking myself is, “what are they afraid of?” By “they” I mean this administration and other pockets of government around the country. Sure nobody likes bad press, and indeed, media will always go after the low hanging fruit first. People like scandal, they like salaciousness, and they like the thought of conspiracy theories, so those are the items that take the lead on every editor’s calendar. That’s always been the case, no matter the politician there is always an antagonist in the press.
I completely get that politicians and the media have always had a love-hate relationship. It’s usually a symbiotic affair, both feeding off of the need to be recognized by the other. Now there seems to be a new order, one that has political leaders deciding who is and who isn’t allowed to report on their actions. Where longstanding, mainstream media outlets are pushed aside for more clearly biased and favorable organizations.
The fact many of our elected officials are now openly refusing to meet with constituents and participate in town halls makes the animosity with the press that much more concerning. We have elected officials who do not feel obligated to the public either in person or through the media. We are being told that as American’s we aren’t smart enough to question them ourselves, or intelligent enough to decipher through any potential biases in reporting. That all of this is to protect us from ourselves and the evil agendas of those tasked with reporting.
It’s this simple, if the elected official isn’t responsive to anyone, they aren’t subject to anyone’s scrutiny. Not answering CNN’s question today means they won’t have to answer yours tomorrow.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
Add this to legislation that is being debated all over the country that will limit protests, putting more restrictions on what is and isn’t allowed, and you begin to have a recipe that is pretty close to fascism. All the tenets are there, the temperature is right and there seems to be a large number of people in the country who like the smell coming from the kitchen. First Amendment violations be damned.
Can media reporting be biased? Yes. Does false information get released by the press? Absolutely. Can protestors get out of hand? All the time. Do town hall meetings sometimes devolve into shouting matches and gotcha moments? You bet. As American’s however, we should be smart enough to disseminate all of this and come to clear concise conclusions.
The fact that media can be biased and release false information is easily resolved by the fact that there are so many media outlets. We have the capability, now more than ever before, to collect large amounts of data and reporting in seconds and compare and contrast the articles, videos, and statements to get a complete understanding. It’s not fake when the majority of mainstream media is reporting the same thing over the course of weeks. It’s not biased if the reporting is factual and accurate. It’s not misleading if it’s the truth.
The answer to a protest that may have gotten out of hand is not to legislate against public discourse. The solution is to address the problems that people are so frustrated about. To give disenfranchised and marginalized groups the same outlet to voice their concerns as every other American. Turning on your fellow citizen simply because you don’t understand their struggle is exactly what those in power want us to do. If we as the constituency can’t agree on what problems to address as important, the elected officials don’t have to work toward fixing anything other than what the lobbyist and special interest money tells them to.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” – Sinclair Lewis
If we continue to allow these leaders to ignore, avoid and dismiss us, democracy and this Republic is lost. If they continue to feel as though they don’t have to answer to us no real change for the better can happen. If they don’t answer to the voter, who do they answer to?
Dismantling the First Amendment is not the answer to any of the problems we face. For the last eight years, there was a movement in this country that fought almost daily to protect their view of the Second Amendment. Why isn’t there such a movement today to protect the other 26?
We must cease being so presumptuous as to believe fascism can’t happen here. It is happening here, faster than maybe even I realize. Question everything, fight for everyone, blindly follow nobody.
“Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed. The optimism of people standing on the edge of the grave is astounding.”– Vasily Grossman
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Orwell’s critiques were mainly against Stalinism and other leftist forms of thought-policing, but nice try. He also wrote that he couldn’t hate Hitler even if he tried.
“We are being told that as American’s we aren’t smart enough to question them ourselves, or intelligent enough to decipher through any potential biases in reporting.”
As long as Americans don’t understand the difference between plural and possessive (i.e. Americans vs. American’s) we will probably continue to be seen as not intelligent enough. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Well, to me it seems to be the result of the same old hyperbolic, conjectural, opinionated gobbledygook that I continue to see being spewed across the headlines. It’s just now been exposed, no? The media’s job it to report the news, not select and decide what the people should know, who’s news is important, so as to direct their agenda. If we are to believe that it does not have an effect on people’s beliefs, when presented with false facts and conjured realities, then we’d have to believe that every company spending millions on marketing are a bunch of idiots,… Read more »
I’m sorry but this is the exact kind of rationalization that makes people wonder about what actually motivates Trump supporters. What you voted for is in no way what Trump is now giving you. Yes, he’s going after immigrants and building a wall but the deeper issue of challenging the power elites in Washington? Trump beat Hillary by attacking Wall Street. His cabinet is now mostly made up of Goldman Sachs executives who, made billions selling short on the very investment instruments the were selling that bundled bad mortages. THEY PROFITED OFF THE HOUSING BUST. Trump is now hell bent… Read more »
Mark, Bill Clinton made almost $18,000,000 for an “honorary position” (read little to no work involved sounds kind of like a payoff wouldn’t you say?) at the for profit college Hillary Clinton gave access to as Secretary of State. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-bill-clintons-nearly-18-million-job-as-honorary-chancellor-of-a-for-profit-college/2016/09/05/8496db42-655b-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4_story.html?utm_term=.74fd1f36c08e I don’t know if you’ll ever find a politician who doesn’t owe someone a favor or didn’t provide a favor for which they’ll later expect repayment. The question is how much are you going to steal from me and will your policies put me in danger? On that you might have a point, but I’m willing to wait and see.… Read more »
We are already at the bottom of the pond, Mark. And you did not challenge one of my statements, just attempted to besmirch and dismiss (“typical Trump supporter”), then off on a rant, pulling all the triggers from Big business, the wealthy 1%, to Wall-street. I’m surprised that you didn’t toss the ole “white male privilege” in there for seasoning. It’s the same thing the media has been touting for years while we fall apart at the seams, and it’s now falling upon deaf ears, become white noise. As a small business owner for over 35 years, let me explain… Read more »
“It’s not fake when the majority of mainstream media is reporting the same thing over the course of weeks. It’s not biased if the reporting is factual and accurate. It’s not misleading if it’s the truth.” Wasn’t that exactly what happened prior to the election. Anyone who believed that Clinton and the democrats were going to win in a rout could be forgiven because that was exactly what was reported by every major main stream media outlet. I don’t know if you understand how elections work so let ne explain something. The reason that politicians make promises and have platforms,… Read more »
Point well taken. I felt that the prior administration had more fascism to it then what I’ve seen so far with Trump.
Tom, fascism is not about bathrooms. Hitler didn’t care who pissed where. He cared about:
1) Eliminating the free press
2) Eliminating the judiciary
3) Scapegoating immigrants
4) Ending free and fair elections
5) Attacking any and all opposition as enemies of the state
Authoritarism is a nationalist attack on democratic institutions. If you support Trump, this is what you are supporting.
And yet it’s the liberals who are wearing the masks and trying to silence opposition by beating them with metal baseball bats
Maybe I missed something … Where is he trying to “eliminate” free press? He’s called the press out for their lies and misreporting and the egos of the free press are having a hard time dealing with the fact that they can no longer push their agenda. If anything, what came out of this election is that the public has seen the press for what it is. Scapegoating immigrants? There is a BIG difference between illegal and legal. ALL the legal immigrants and their families (including my wife) that I know, are in favor of doing something about the illegals… Read more »
“The fascists are those that demand that everyone must live life the way they see fit. ”
Including those who are obviously going to try and mandate the opposite of the bathroom laws, that trans people need to go to the bathroom of their originally assigned gender?
OirishM
To some extent that’s true, but how is telling a trans person which bathroom to use different from telling a non-trans person what bathroom to use, which is the norm in every state as far as I can tell?
The fact remains allowing local governments to set the standard is a compromise. It is listening to people contrary to what was stated in this article. What we have on the other side though is I’ll impose my will on you never mind that we lost the election.
Trump is handing trans bathroom issues over to the states because who pisses in which bathroom won’t make a bit of difference to whether or not Trump is a fascist. What will make a difference is: 1) Undermining free and fair elections 2) Undermining the judiciary 3) Scapegoating immigrants 4) Attacking the free press 5) Attacking any and all opposition as enemies of the state. If you think instituting trans rights defines a facsict government, you’re obsessing over the wrong issues. Which is right where Trump wants you focused while his Exxon Mobile, Goldman Sachs cabinet deregulate and funnel $trillions… Read more »
1. Trump didn’t undermine free and fair elections. Every vote that was cast was cast for the person the voter. If any one tried to undermine free and fair elections it’s those who facilitate the illegal voting of non-citizens. That’s what affects an election, actual votes. 2. Trump isn’t trying to eliminate the judiciary. Where do you get that false news. The judiciary is not above public criticism. How quickly you forget the backlash against the judge in the Brock Turner case where people were demanding his removal. 3. Every country has the right and the executive branch has an… Read more »
Absolutely wrong, John. A text book fake news response. There is zero evidence the people who shouldn’t be voting are voting. What we do know is that the GOP is enacting a nation wide effort to systematically suppress legitimate voters via list purges, voter ID laws, limiting early voting and more. You’re delivering the same predictable Fox News talking points while Trump makes an end run on the treasury with his Goldman Sachs cabinet. Really. Enough.
Mark, When they did the recount in Wisconsin, Trump won by an even bigger margin. That’s a fact not a talking point. http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-final-wisconsin-recount-tally-1481584948-htmlstory.html Either some of Trump’s votes didn’t get counted (so much for denying people the vote, right?), some of Clinton’s votes were disallowed (Maybe fraudulent, maybe counted for Clinton instead of the candidate that the person originally voted for), maybe a combination or maybe a combination, but Trump just had it done to his votes more often. Funny how people can tell government not to curtail illegal voting because (they suspect that) there are only a few illegals… Read more »
Mark, I look at this whole ID thing and voter suppression and I just don’;t get it. I know probably a dozen people who didn’t vote or register. They all have IDs. Granted they’re all on college or have graduated from it and all have bank accounts, cars, etc. I know 3 people who don’t even own a car, but have a drivers license. More to the point, who doesn’t have an ID since you need one to do pretty basic things? More to the point, if their lives are in such disarray, would they even vote? It’s not like… Read more »
Those free and fair elections that you’re so concerned about have meant less and less over the last century as our ‘government’ in practice consists more and more of self-selecting undemocratic bureaucracy. The ‘merit selected civil servants’ who staff that bureaucracy will remain in office no matter who wins the next election, or the one after that. This is not a recent development.