For the last God knows how many years I’ve been what some might call a news junkie. As soon as my first meeting was over and done with I’d turn on the iPad and start watching the news. For the last few years I’d watch the NPR News Hour followed by Democracy Now. I might then watch Al Jazeera live for awhile. NPR is always on when I shower and more than likely to be tuned in when I’m driving. My Facebook timeline is replete with reputable news sources. News, news, news. I like to stay informed.
There are a lot of Americans today that would say I’m just one of those libtard progressives that’s been brainwashed by “fake” news and I’ve learned, at least from my little canary in the coal mine on Facebook, that there’s nothing I could do to convince them otherwise. Absolutely nothing. “Oh, you believe that because you’ve been brainwashed by liberal media,” is what I’d usually hear (though this is my polite way or rephrasing what I’ve typically been told. I used to respond with, “No, I believe that because I’ve been watching Trump’s speeches and following exactly what he’s been doing. “Fake news!” they decry? “But how is it fake?” I wonder, “If he’s quite literally on video saying/doing it?!”
Pointless.
So I unfriended that guy. No point in trying to have a conversation anymore, at least not after Trump was elected. No point in being insulted constantly or listening to him rant about things that simply weren’t true (about what Christian hating Democrats like me believe–he couldn’t even get it across his head that a) I’m not and never have been a Democrat and B) I’m not a Christian hater, having grown up a Lutheran, having a preacher brother, and having great respect and fondness for many of the traditions of the church).
I digress.
Since the election my daily routine changed dramatically. Why keep myself informed if the majority of my fellow countrymen aren’t interested in experienced a shared reality based on facts and a deep desire to learn the truth regardless of whether or not we learn is what matches our own present reality? I mean, I spent 25 years studying both World Wars, with a specific focus on the second and specifically on fascism during that time, but what’s the point if a huge swatch of people believe they can use the term “fascism” and “Nazi” to mean anything they want? Me? I think words having meaning, that’s the whole point of having a fucking language, so we can communicate. But when words can be twisted and redefined by ignorance and hate, there’s not much you can do about it.
Don’t get me started about the word “woke”, which has been stolen and bastardized by the right, just as predicted by a fascist loving playbook. Okay, maybe I will, but another time.
So yeah, what’s the point? Some might argue it’s so I can fight back? But hey folks, I’m having a hard enough time struggling with my health and my emotions and my finances and lack of social support systems from one day to the next, I don’t have anything left to fight back with. Sure, I used to post to social media things I thought were either A) supportive of causes and people I believed in or B) sound news from around the world that I felt worth sharing, but now that we have an elected leader who’s quite literally pardoned domestic terrorists in his first day in office and has on previous occasions promised to go after people who don’t agree with him (i.e. people like me) I’m a little leery of putting my foot out there. Put another way, Hitler didn’t have the potential power to take a look at Facebook and Instagram and Twitter users. He now has a CEO that’d probably let him gather data about people on X and wouldn’t be surprised if in the first six months starts pushing to get similar government access on other platforms. It will be done in the name of National Security. But it’ll be done for the same reason all fascists abuse their power.
So yeah, I keep up on the news, more than most anyway, but not nearly as much. No point. Trump is predictable. He was on his first run, he was while he was out of office, and he is now. And I don’t honestly think anyone who disagrees with him is safe. Fortunately, nobody reads this blog. And besides, all I’m doing is sharing how I don’t listen to the fake news much anymore anyhow.
C’est la vie.
That’s french for, “That’s life.”