Teach for America’s Survival
Central to making this nation better is a deeper commitment to TRUTH — not, the acceptance of lies and disinformation as fair opinion. A lie is a lie. Disinformation is disinformation. Most don’t know (OR conviently forget/ignore) that American military once produced collateral to enhance efforts to prevent adults — not children — from being “suckers” — hypnotized by slick talkers who push the right emotionally biased buttons, to follow straw man arguments, even ordaining the unqualified as leaders based upon their “likes”.
The most egregious act of insurrection has become a partisan issue in a land where four years of the slick phrase alternative facts (aka absolute lies), have been acceptable by one party over the other. Worse, the network that brought us Bart Simpson & the Super Bowl, funds disinformation cloaked as news. FOX News, and its spawn (its “anchors” and other outlets born from the same Petri dish of deception) seem to have mutated into an illness called “Foxitis” — at least that is what an attorney for a January 6th seditionist wants judge & jury to believe. Imagine that, the nation that funds Voice Of America, to promote U.S. values & international goodwill, is the birthplace of a family of media products that generation radicalized, insurrectionists — and, members of the same congress that funds VOA rather listen to — and produce — lies & disinformation that betrays everything America is supposed to stand for. Freedom of speech should never grant permission to lie without a disclaimer. The re-birth of chief GOPropagandist, Alex Jones should come with the disclaimer his lawyers used to explain his lies in court, “Alex Jones’s Attorneys Argue That No Reasonable Person Would Believe What He Says” A disclaimer saying, “DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE HEARING” should scroll beneath Tucker Carlson’s show. After all, “You Literally Can’t Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox’s Lawyers”.
Courts, with their risks of perjury & big settlements have a way to evoke some truth-telling, though. Sidney Powell, one of the paid liar/lawyers defending the big lies of voter fraud that an embarrassingly large, gullible group stilL believe, had to admit in court, “…her unfounded allegations of voting machine fraud should not have been construed as statements of fact.” A lawyer who has a profession she is supposed to honor, spewed lies for a president, who swore to uphold truth, admits, IN COURT, she shouldn’t have been believed? How low can we go?
The National Enquirer style lies have become a staple for the politically savvy to feed their manna to those who worship people & parties they elect to deify. SMH
Who owns the platforms that feed you information?
We must teach young people to better understand America. But remember, adults create their curricula. Adults are frequently enraptured by savvy propaganda machines, much like how kids can be persuaded by good toy ads or swooned by a well-choreographed band (from the Jackson 5 to BTS). Same scripts, different casts. Adults are creating animus that is undergirded by “fake facts”. It is produced to endorse unsubstantiated, yet preconceived claims of who’s right or wrong — for vanity & political gain. The kids dragged to rallies, wearing political gear & chanting hate, are reminiscent of those taken to lynchings or slave auctions. They were tagging along with their designated adults. They observed. They learned to accept what they saw as “normal” or rejected it.
Believing & embracing a lie makes you a sustainer & maintainer of the lie. And, when the lie has been confirmed as such, those who admit it was a lie, yet embrace it anyway, are cultists (whether they admit it or not). The world has seen how charisma can trump common senses before. This worn playbook is dusted off and reused in different fields, because it works. Narcissism. Fascism. Cult of personality. Shrewd politicking. Call it what you want, but don’t deny it’s dangers, no matter how you label it.
Truth v Lie should not be a partisan debate. The CONSTITUTIONAL education of elected officials shouldn’t start AFTER THEY ARE ELECTED. Nor should voters be so uninformed that name recognition is the determining factor of who’s best qualified to hold public office.
And, by the way, elected officials, voting rights are basic democratic tools. NO elected official, who owes their office to voting, should attempt to suppress or impede the rights of all voters. And, if you didn’t know, sedition & criminal acts (before, during and after holding office) are not part of our constitutional values.
The failure the last administration & Republican Party to hold others accountable- especially within their own party — has been the greatest violation of constitutional democracy within this republic since the civil war.
It is incumbent of a citizenry to understand it’s rights and the construct of the society where they live. Those who were elected and took an oath to defend our democracy against all enemies of the state — foreign & domestic — yet, colluded or enabled both, are the absolute worse hypocrites ever. You should have to know basic civics before even running for office. Do you need examples of what “unfit for public office” looks like? Tommy Tuberville. Marjorie Taylor Greene. TedCruz. And there are many others who won office because they ran unopposed, not enough people showed up on Election Day or the winners played their political cards right and road propaganda coattails to victory.
A lazy or misguided electorate can cost all of us. Yes, we need better civics training, but it needs to happen with all age groups — too many adults know better, yet choose to lie & manipulate our systems for political & personal gains.
