Only the graying US population remembers when journalism presented both sides of an issue and left it to readers to sort out what was truth. Those were the days when truth was plain, not subjective. We who stood in line for polio shots in the 1950’s and recall where we were when JFK was assassinated remember when news was inert and simply reported without prejudice. In school we were made aware that totalitarian countries used propaganda masquerading as news reporting. All opposing views were blocked as a threat to the state. Our educational establishment told us that this was a terrible thing, and we were different because free speech was a foundation of our nation. Our founders told us that the common sense of the masses was powerful and because the chain of freedom is only as strong as its weakest link, we must always guard against the elitism of leadership that may seduce the people into trading liberty for false security. America’s founders became problematic for Washington when Donald Trump got picked in 2016 on a ticket that promised to return America to its former greatness. The use of the slogan, “Make America Great Again”, suggested that Washington had been doing something that corroded those foundations and was engineering the country to mimic totalitarian nations. No one in the country was saying that Black lives do not matter, yet suddenly a Black Lives Matter movement appeared to divide the nation. This was a classic divisive tactic we were warned about in the history classes of the 1960’s. Less than careful readers of the US press cannot comprehend this and fall prey to postmodern scheming designed to protect the permanent Washington status quo. The quick appearance of communist words like misinformation, and disinformation should have been a red flag to many Americans, but because contemporary US education has shifted from teaching useful skills to captive-audience indoctrination it is not recognized. Even the little newspaper in my hometown joined the Boston Globe and many other publications to manipulate minds into believing that Trump’s revelation of media as fake news (propaganda), was an attack on free speech. Many contemporary Americans believe that free speech is a corporate commodity owned by the media. Marx, Lennin, and Saul Alinsky are laughing in hell. This is why Trump is still so dangerous to them and why they corrupted the last election to get rid of him.
