Finding the Truth

Breaking the Chains of Lies

Today our country appears to be more divided than since the Civil War and the potential consequences are terrifying. The culprit is cynical, power driven corruption, the love of money and disinformation that feeds on fear and ignorance.

The quality of our lives depends on truthful information, anything else is manipulation. More information is available than ever before, but so is more disinformation. We are being driven apart rather than becoming unified for the gain of a few.

It’s easy for the rich and powerful to manipulate us. They prey on our weakness, our tribal natures. The game isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats, blacks versus whites or heterosexuals versus gays. The game is about money and control. They pit us against one and other while they run to the bank.

We’ve always been tribal and distrusting. It’s built into our DNA, the survival instinct, just like any other animal. We’ve committed terrible crimes. There are human atrocities being committed this minute. Entire populations of people have been routinely exterminated because of the propaganda of those who gain from it. Propaganda is proliferating today in the United States and the blame for our problems is being falsely placed on people of color. It’s an age-old game. The pace of change in the world is overwhelming and many people are afraid for their future. They’re looking for answers. This is particularly true of aging white males who haven’t kept up with the world. Donald Trump’s propaganda created an opportunity for racists to parade in the open.

As a kid I remember watching Richard Nixon resign on TV. The internet didn’t exist and there were four channels to choose from, ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. We subscribed to a daily newspaper because my parents believed in the importance of staying informed. I read the paper from about twelve years old on. The house was full of books by significant writers of my parent’s generation through whom I learned about WWII, the Great Depression, remarkable people whose lives affected the world for the better, and foreign cultures. The family library was in many ways a greater education than I received in formal schooling. I learned to discern between fact and fiction.

Unlike now the news wasn’t expected to generate profit. News was considered sacrosanct and sound investigative journalism was understood to be the bulwark of Democracy’s survival. News was reported in sober fashion. It didn’t look like a video game and people didn’t shout over each other. The facts were reported as they were learned and clearly separated from opinion. When opinions differed they were based on a rational set of facts and discussion was respectful. It was possible and normal for people of different views to arrive at constructive consensus.

Like now inequity was rampant, however, there was a sense that America, even in her imperfection, was about striving for the greater good. There was still optimism. We wanted to become a more perfect union.

I was aware of our country making terrible mistakes. Coffins of American soldiers of every color came home on the nightly news. The war wasn’t sanitized by military approved “embedded” reporters. Young people were moved to protest what they saw and branded as traitors. They made a mistake in disparaging the soldiers coming home from the war, because both the soldiers and protestors cared deeply for their country. They both wanted to make the world better. That’s what freedom should be about.

Our current political and social climate is extremely dangerous. The mainstream news is owned by powerful corporate conglomerates that are driven by profit. This creates an enormous conflict of interest between reporting the truth and making money. Many of these corporations are responsible for crimes against humanity and crimes against the environment. They also own the entertainment industry which serves to keep us numb from recognizing and addressing the truth.

Additionally, the half truths and outright lies of certain news outlets and the rise of social media have encouraged the worst people we have to offer to prey on ignorance and fear and organize. The poster child is Donald Trump who spews lies that encourage white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and the KKK. These are the types that stormed the capital on January 6.

The very people who are screaming for their “rights” are enabling those that would turn this country into a Fascist state where you have no rights whatsoever. They have no clue that Donald Trump would readily turn them into fertilizer for one of his golf courses if it suited him. We have a disturbingly large number of dumber than a box of rocks haters who clearly showed they will kill you if you’re not with them.

Of course they have the right to be first-class dopes under the First Amendment as do corporations because of possibly the worst ruling in the history of the Not So Supreme Court, the Citizens United case.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This amendment is foundational to our Democracy and was intended as a protection for us as citizens.

The 2010 ruling by the Not So Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruled that the First Amendment extends to corporations, nonprofit corporations, labor unions and other associations as well. A foundational clause written to protect our civil liberties as human beings was entirely subverted, unleashing floods of corporate money into our election system under the guise of free speech.

Ponder that Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, ABC is owned by Disney, CBS is owned by Viacom and NBC is owned by Comcast. These are gigantic conglomerates who own not just our television networks, but radio stations, newspapers and streamed content as well. Four mega corporations control everything we see and hear with the ultimate goal of increasing the wealth of their stockholders as required by a heinous law. Could this present a mild conflict of interest as they slash budgets for investigative journalism?

The only thing that stands between us and complete oppression is a free press. Consider the diversity of these quotes.

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

“The only security of all is in a free press.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“The first thing dictators do is finish free press, to establish censorship. There is no doubt that a free press is the first enemy of dictatorship.”
―Fidel Castro

“Free speech exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.”
―Theodore Roosevelt

“If I had to choose between government and a free press, I would choose a free press.”
―Thomas Jefferson

“It is a seldom proffered argument as to the advantages of a free press that it has a major function in keeping the government itself informed as to what the government is doing.”
―Walter Cronkite

“The crisis of modern democracy is a profound one. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder.”
―Arundhati Roy

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without
being lost.”
―Thomas Jefferson

“A free press isn't the enemy of America; it's a big part of what makes America great.”
―Jonathan Karl

“As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press. A free press ensures the flow of information to the public, and let me say, during a time when the role of government in our lives and in our enterprises seems to grow every day — both at home and abroad — ensuring the vitality of a free and independent press is more important than ever.”
―Mike Pence

“The essence of the free press is the reliable, reasonable and moral nature of freedom.”
―Karl Marx

“For me, the most serious problem is how America became so vulnerable to the assertion of blatant falsehoods that drive policy and are not corrected by the so-called immune system of democracy, a free press and a free democratic discourse.”
―Al Gore

“No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.”
―Thomas Jefferson

“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.”
―Albert Camus

“You cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people's souls and thoughts.... Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty but to less liberty.”
―Herbert Hoover

“The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep he waters pure.”
―Thomas Jefferson

Finally, the words of a famous man who knew a free press was not in his interest:

“It is the press, above all, which wages a positively fanatical and slanderous struggle, tearing down everything which can be regarded as a support of national independence, cultural elevation, and the economic independence of the nation.”
― Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

We live in an overwhelming time. We’re tired, we feel hopeless too much, but the truth is we are the majority. We can overcome brain washing corporations by boycotting their products. The one thing they will pay attention to is falling profits and falling returns for their stock holders. We can take charge. Share this with your neighbors, friends and family. Share it with the misled. They’re not necessarily bad people, they have simply been taking in the wrong information, disinformation, for a long time. Accept that you’ll take some lumps and feel good when you go to bed that you did the right thing. It’s a time for courage and engagement, not pulling into our shells, or being reduced to confrontation. We have to be bigger than those that would drag us down. You and I can make a difference. Believe it. Act on it.