That’s how we got into this mess. Reagan legitimized greed and for forty years America has been beholden to the almighty dollar. If someone is rich, they’re beyond reproach. They’re job creators, they’re more worldly and more intelligent and if you knew your place you would get on the endless treadmill and start running…
In place.
Because the truth is it’s hard to get ahead in America, especially if you’re not born with a silver spoon in your mouth. And if you’re not, you’re demonized, like Obama, not born in America, “foreign,” “other,” divisiveness rules and there’s no cohesion, you cannot get your message heard.
And its only getting worse.
Twenty minutes ago I tuned into late night TV. I never do that anymore, it used to be a ritual, but it’s passe. Jimmy Kimmel has given up jokes and gone for the jokesters themselves, the right wing, especially Trump. Stephen Colbert goes for the same jugular.
But it’s an echo chamber.
Because those whose minds they want to change are not listening.
And the truth is the most important powers in America are the media owners. Which is why the right wing attacked them so heavily, to the point too many people no longer trust what they see or read. The end result is we all have our own facts, our own stories, and the nation is ruled by the rich elite.
Until now.
We thought social media was gonna save us. But the problem is, the men running those companies grew up post-Reagan themselves, believing if they deliver for Wall Street, they’ve delivered for the country. And the fascinating thing about social media is there’s no there there, nothing without the public’s participation. They’re not making anything, they’re just selling ads to our eyeballs which cannot stop paying attention to the train-wreck. But being beholden to the dollar none of these outlets can do the right thing, they’re categorically against it. Zuck pays fealty to his stock price, believe nothing the man says if it will drive his numbers down. And Snapchat is about entertainment, not news. And Twitter is the land of fake accounts arguing over what the facts are.
And I’m stuck in the middle with you.
Now when the wool was pulled over our eyes, most especially during the Clinton years, when finances were good, when they stole the safety net, we just stopped paying attention and bought our cars and drank our beer and lived our lives. But then, life got hard. Bush II gave more money to the rich, broke the nation’s finances, got us into a war benefiting his and his party’s donors and then crashed the economy.
But it was the Democrats’ fault, it’s always the Democrats’ fault.
You see this has got nothing to do with right or left, right or wrong, either party, but muddying the water so you’ll give up and feel powerless, stop paying attention, like in some third world country, so they can rape and pillage to their content. Can you say “Koch”?
Don’t say “Soros,” it’s a false equivalency.
And if you’re arguing with me you’re completely missing the point. I’m like Jimmy, I’m like Stephen, I’m preaching to my choir, of which you are not a member. And now we have stopped paying attention to you, we know you’re not going to change your view, just go back to the rodeo you came from where immigrants and taxes are bad and people of color are the problem. Our only hope is to get out the vote and get rid of gerrymandering and then…
Kids flipped the script.
You see money is no match for the truth.
We pushed our nation’s values to the limit. Congresspeople, most of whom their constituents could not name, were beholden to the money, not the voters, and now the light is being shone upon them and they’re flummoxed, crippled. “I can’t vote that way because of the NRA.” Huh? So you’re beholden to gun manufacturers?
And this is not about guns, this is about the American way of life. We’re so convinced America is so peachy, the best country in the world, that we believe unrest can’t happen here, that it’s just a few bad apples. But just like school shootings, the protests, the upheavals, are coming fast and furiously. Right after #MeToo we’ve got anti-gun protestors. Do you think this is a coincidence? After all, we’ve been inundated with the news of so many school shootings, WHY NOW?
We haven’t had this spirit here since 1969, truly.
So what is happening here is the center no longer holds.
If you’re a rightie, if you watch Fox News, you’ve got no idea about the student protests, unless you read in social media that they were fake, imported agitators. But that kid said if he was an actor, you should have seen him in the school’s rendition of “Fiddler On The Roof,” he was AWFUL! And less wooden and more honest than anybody in D.C. Hell, it’s a thrill to listen to these kids elucidate, gives us faith in the educational system, especially one that’s not faith-based and done in the home.
That’s right, those people want to divide us.
But suddenly we’re becoming united.
So what happens next?
Damned if I know, but it’s no longer business as usual.
Sure, people were dumb and voted against their interests and elected Donald Trump.
Then again, so many were sick of business as usual, and couldn’t vote for Hillary.
And you and me just picked the most expeditious choice, but it turns out expediency no longer applies.
Meanwhile, we’ve got a President who keeps looking backward and a Congress that’s paralyzed.
And suddenly the jig is up.
That’s people power.
We learned that online, if the product is not great it fails, we can research instantly. Which is why the right wants to get rid of net neutrality, don’t forget, they’re not our public airwaves, they’re THEIRS, the people who paid for them, via lobbyists and auctions and…
Maybe there’s just unrest. Maybe authoritarianism results. Maybe there becomes one place online we all go to to find out what’s going on.
The rich don’t want this, they like us confused. But we’re wired, we’re connected, they have no idea of our power.
That’s right, you have power.
And the first thing you have to do is educate yourself, so you can talk authoritatively. Forget emotion, focus on facts, without them you’re going to have a hard time succeeding in the future.
And the fact finders adhere to a past paradigm, not taking a stance, that’s what’s wrong with the so-called “mainstream media.” But facts without interpretation are worthless.
Sling your arrows, attack me, but you’re missing the point. I’m just the messenger. But there’s something happening here, and what it is ain’t exactly clear.
For what it’s worth.
Previously: Student Gun Protests.
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