I know, I know…I’ve repeatedly opined that the “root of the problem” is racism (defined as fear and loathing of all “Others”–including not just anti-Black and anti-Jewish animus, but the White Christian Nationalist effort to put women back in the kitchen and send immigrants with less than alabaster skin tones back to the “shithole” countries from which they came.) And I stand by that allegation.
That said, the current eruption of those long-simmering hatreds has been enormously facilitated by the information environment we inhabit.
In one of his daily newsletters, Robert Hubbell shared an observation that struck me as very true: he noted that, for MAGA Republicans, “truth is a pesky annoyance to be circumvented.” But government and the rule of law are dependent upon a polity that shares a “common view of facts rooted in reality.”
The Internet has been an incredible boon to humanity; it has allowed people to access virtually all of the information produced by mankind. It has made our lives more convenient–whatever one thinks of Jeff Bezos, old folks who can’t get out to shop, people who for one reason or another cannot drive, can order needed goods with a click and have those goods delivered to their doors, an enormous benefit. (Note: that online ordering need not be confined to Amazon.)
The Internet has also enhanced free speech in a number of ways. For one thing, it frustrates efforts at censorship–as the scolds who try to remove books from school libraries have found. (Tell a teenager “you can’t read this book” and more often than not, you’ve piqued her interest in that book, which she can access easily enough via the Internet.)
I could go on enumerating the positives of our new human connectivity. But like almost every aspect of human progress, there are downsides, and one of the most concerning is the immense growth of what we politely call “disinformation,” and what is more accurately called lying. Conspiracy theories. Propaganda.
Let’s be honest–the Internet has made it possible to live in a chosen bubble, to inhabit an information environment that has been carefully curated to reinforce what a particular individual wishes to believe. That ability is steadily eroding the importance of empirical fact.
Over the long haul, it is likely that choosing to live in a world where “facts” are irrelevant is risky. Individuals who prefer to believe RFK, Jr’s fact-free animus toward vaccination die more frequently than those who accept medical science. Those who reject the humanity of people who are “different” live more fearful and far less interesting lives than the people who embrace diversity and learn from it.
If the negative outcomes were limited to the people making fact-free choices, the rest of us could shrug and leave them to their own (constricted) worldviews. After all, there have always been people who live in fantasies of their own construction, always been conspiracy theorists and science deniers. As a doctor/cousin of mine likes to say, there’s always been a market for snake oil.
But the Internet has vastly expanded the availability and reach of that snake oil. It has enormously facilitated the ability to inhabit a bubble that confirms one’s desired reality. In an increasingly complicated world, the temptation to retreat from that complexity also becomes greater. (Nor is that temptation limited to low-information citizens.)
For all my adult life, I have been a firm and vocal supporter of free speech–not because all speech is valuable, but because allowing government (or any authority) to decide what speech is allowable would be far–far–more dangerous than stupid, false, obscene or incendiary speech itself. The advent of the Internet and thousands of sites promoting propaganda and worse hasn’t changed my analysis. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that “alternate realities” available online do vastly greater damage than similar fantasies peddled via pamphlets or even by radio “personalities.”
Ultimately, the only counter-measure I can envision is better education. Better civic education, better instruction in logic, more instruction in how to determine the credibility of Internet reports. But that’s “ultimately.” I don’t know what we do today to counter the vast amounts of (excuse my language) horse-shit coming from MAGA and Trump and the Christian Nationalists.
Let’s face it: the people who voted for Donald Trump do not occupy a fact-based reality. And thanks in large part to a vast Right-wing information ecosystem, there were enough of them to plunge America into the dark age we are experiencing.
We can only hope that when reality bites, it will be hard enough to waken enough of them…
One thing that would help: Corporate America could stop advertising on fact free media outlets. That would require them to be a bit more responsible to their country and world and a bit less focused on the current quarterly report so my expectation remains low that they will do the right thing. Speaking of business, I am impressed with the 70% decrease in Tesla earnings. The people voted with their dollars. GREAT news
“We can only hope that when reality bites, it will be hard enough to waken enough of them…” “them” being those who voted for Donald Trump and continue to support him may or may not be swayed by the Internet but IMO it is simply that staunch Republican mind set that cannot see beyond the “R” factor to the fact that they are included in Trump’s and Musk’s DOGA targeted list. It is doubtful that they even understand the true definition of “woke” or “DEI” or what we are losing as a nation; such as military security from our enemy nations as they refuse to buy eggs but pay Trump’s continuing high prices for everything else in stores.
Musk’s rants about Social Security recipients as the losers sucking the money from this government has never missed a meal in his life, he and Trump were handed their family money, Musk is not racist because he grew up with Black servants and they follow Trump’s self-proclaimed “genius” status not seeing that he is their Judas goat into oblivion. This nation’s racism and antisemitism roots go deep into the foundation of America, hidden behind our lawmakers slave and indentured servant ownership as they wrote laws against slavery. It continues today; resurrected in the new form of racism and antisemitism known as DEI and is in reality todays “dark age”.
JoAnn, the definitions of “woke” and “DEI” have been changed from their initial meanings. I’ve gotten into arguments on social media about the use of DEI, and it’s mainly because they’ve reinvented that word to be racist against whites. Apparently, Fox News tells them we have laws that prevent discrimination, so “DEI programs aren’t needed.” This goes to what Sheila is talking about – misinformation.
Our media has always been about misinformation once the corporate advertisers entered the picture. The advent of propaganda came in the 1950s with the work of Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. He made a fortune for Big Tobacco, which spread from there. This was long before the Internet was invented.
Sheila is talking about teaching discernment, but I don’t think most Americans can discern between reality and make-believe, making them susceptible to propaganda.
I listened to an interview last night in which the interviewee mentioned the $21 trillion missing from the DoD and HUD that was discovered by a failed audit. Instead of dealing with the massive money missing from the Treasury, during Trump 1.0, Congress passed FASB statement 56, which allows the government to exclude certain “expenditures for what they perceive as classified activities.”
In other words, since 2019, when this passed, we have two sets of government financials: one for the public and one held behind the scenes because of “national security,” whatever that means to the federal government. It’s legalized fraud!!
Here’s a hint about who benefits from this: What happened to the financial markets when Trump threatened to remove Jerome Powell from the Fed? 😉
Trump has since retracted his social media posts about Powell. Trump has much power as Dear Leader, but he is controlled by the Big Banks, which own the Federal Reserve. The money changers!!
So, why hasn’t DOGE and Musk mentioned the missing $21 trillion or two sets of federal government books? 😉
I’m afraid we’ll all be taking the detritus of the concept of free speech to our graves. The fact that the most powerful of our social media platforms have abandoned any semblance of fact-checking – in the name of free speech – is appalling at best. Eliminating those previous attempts at cleaning up the fact-free junk from sites that are the daily lifeblood for so many is simply unacceptable. The results are unmistakable and may well send us back to some version of a modern-day Dark Ages. Is there another way to enjoy the monumental positive changes in our lives bestowed on us by the enlightening internet activity we all enjoy while somehow avoiding the enormous amount of fact-less crap that goes along with it?
Sheila,
What you described is, what they used to call, “there are no atheists in a foxhole.”
Every bird is looking for a flock to join. “Birds of a feather!”
With this wonderful thing called the web, it’s just that. It’s a web that someone can become mired in and eaten alive. You look at RFK jr, and obviously the guy has more than one screw loose and several missing. But there are birds looking to join his flock, there are metaphoric atheists looking to join him in his foxhole.
“Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly,” before that web, people would be confined to their local spiders so to speak, now, you have massive webs that stretch across the country and planet. One spider (using that term loosely) has an unlimited amount of flies to choose from. And those flies can choose a local spider, or one distant to be devoured by.
When you think about it, it’s sort of a freedom! How do you want to meet your maker so to speak! What willful delusion is attractive? What bizarro world fits your personal delusion. What reality fits ones willful ignorance! Willful, denotes a choice. And when you give every single lunatic a choice to follow or be followed, you have anarchy!
Are your particular aliens from the vastness of space? Or, across an international border? Or, next door? It is your particular foxhole, your particular flock, your particular spider that you wish to be devoured by. Musk? RFK Jr? DT? Jeff Bezos? Vladimir Putin? Xi? Originalist? Religionists? The Boogeyman? Really the list is endless. It’s not freedom for the betterment, it’s freedom to pick your suicide! And social media is the devil whispering in one ear or the other. A permission slip to quell the conscience and allow lunacy. Humanity is not built for self rule, because humanity is greedy, humanity is hateful, humanity is destructive! Of course this is not every single human, but it doesn’t take a majority to tear down, or build up! But who really is rational? I suppose it depends on your particular willful delusion or willful ignorance for that matter.
Is there a way to cure this? They’re probably is, I believe there is, it’s going to end up in self-immolation of everything that we see and hear every single day. There are fire starters, but no firemen. The fire department is closed for business.
If it’s time, it’s time!
Sharing information is how we learn. Because everything we have ever learned was new to us until we were taught it by others or through our own experiences, we have all slowly built ourselves and the reality we occupy.
Schools play a role because what they teach has been vetted by experts to be expert knowledge for each age we advance through. (Many of us have had the experience of parenting firstborns when we came face to face with the reality that we didn’t know enough for that role.)
I love the Internet because, with little effort and quickly, I have access to both vetted and unvetted information on every topic imaginable. Putting the information into digital form may be mankind’s most considerable and collaborative effort ever.
However, learning more from our access to that information is tricky. It’s become a mix of entertainment, advertising, imagination, and a font of human knowledge. We must distinguish knowledge from opinion and grant credibility based on our research skills.
Some professions and experiences emphasize continuous research skill improvement. But because we are almost perfectly diverse in every way imaginable, including knowledge and opinion, we all live in different worlds of DNA and experiences.
As a society, now, because of our unprecedented access to information, the diversity of what we know and what we believe is unprecedented.
How about the root of the problem is greed? Africans were brought here in the first place as slaves for the enrichment of plantation owners. Rupert Murdoch’s garbage news outlets, and the like, here and elsewhere were created for enrichment, as were the idiot talk shows on radio. Sure, people are allowed to be entrepreneurs, but when doing so is at the expense of social stability, we have a problem.
People tend to believe what they want to believe until reality slaps ’em upside the head. And some have awfully hard heads that require quite a slap. I agree that education is the long term solution. But right now, reality is slapping a lot of folks who haven’t been paying much attention to it.
John Sorg said ” Humanity is not built for self rule.” In reality, humanity has been ruling itself forever, constrained only by those laws of physics that constrain all life forms. And we have been an enormously successful species.
Each species alters the environment in which it lives. We are the only species with the ability to make conscious decisions about how we do so. When reality shows us we are making wrong decisions (the head slaps) we can change our minds. That is what we are doing right now, in our communications, with our protest signs, by our bodies on the streets. We are changing minds. Thanks, Sheila for being one of the leaders.
You did it again, Sheila. Another of your best! Way to go!
Why have so many Americans failed to sort out the truth? It’s important to be well-informed. What happened?
I believe it’s a matter of *will* — Americans ceased to be serious people. The U.S. military draft, also known as conscription, ended on January 27, 1973. If your government can force you or your children to serve — most people would want good government and hence pay closer attention to the character and qualifications of people seeking public office.
Bring back universal conscription, and with it, bring back shared reality and shared sacrifice. 🇺🇸🫡⚖️🗽🕊
Sharon,
Interesting theory, unfortunately humans are not the best examples. If humanity was so advanced, why the wars? Why the greed? Why the constant desire and willingness to put one’s foot on the throat of their fellow man. Humans have the ability to reason, also the ability to be compassionate and empathetic. In the animal kingdom, compassion and empathy does not stretch very far. Especially when hunger and thirst are the largest drivers of survival.
Humans are supposed to be able to be honest brokers and stewards of this planet we live on! Unfortunately, being slapped upside the head is not a sign of intellectual behavior. The laws of physics, well, I don’t know much physics has to do with human behavior, It does bring into view, possibilities. Atomic power or nuclear power, wasn’t used for the betterment, it was used to destroy. The same with all discoveries, they’re not used to advance humanity, they are used to strengthen military knowledge.
Anything positive from that, it’s just a byproduct of the scientific research. And the military far outweighs any sort of benefit concerning all of this research and development. Right now, they are rearming the fighter jets and long-distance bombers with nuclear warheads, not just in the US, but China, Russia, and the EU. That just makes it a little bit easier to annihilate the planet by someone who has an itchy trigger figure. When you take a step forward, it’s not accomplishing much if you take two or three steps backward afterwards. You kind of get stuck!
The saturation level of stupidity and ignorance is probably getting to the point of no return. But instead of seeing hope on the horizon, we have ignorance, hatred, greed, narcissism, and the craving for power over one’s fellow man.
That’s not sustainable. And it proves, humanity cannot come together and have some sort of a panacea on its own. Humanity has changed weather patterns, the Earth is becoming more desert than plush. The lines are being drawn in the sand for resources, not sharing, but hoarding. This also goes along with greed and power. If the entire planet were to work together, humanity would have been exploring the stars by now. Instead of fighting over fish!
Humanity has not proven it’s ability to be Good, but it has proven its ability to be evil.
This planet’s governments can spend trillions of dollars on ways to annihilate their neighbors, and then turn around and claim basic human needs, food, shelter, health care, And yes education, are too expensive! Then proceed to kick people off of any sort of general welfare programs. It all sounds good written in the Bill of Rights, but that’s not the bill of right now. Right now, it’s the evil that men do that get the attention and the money.
Maybe it’s the amygdala. Orange Jesus (OJ) is simply a bully, Fear is the sharpest tool in their shed. Look at the last election. Harris was telling people we needed to come together to save democracy. Meanwhile., OJ is talking about the invasion at the border. For every action, these is an equal and opposite reaction. Why do we have to save democracy? We voted, didn’t we? Meanwhile, there was a young woman brutally killed by one of THOSE PEOPLE!. That was the tipping point. That and the cost of eggs.
In hindsight we see the importance of democracy. We may be too late.
The root of the problem is not recism. The root of the problem is arch conservative oligarchs pimping racism and other hatreds. All of this stuff isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s happening because Oligarchs want to divide us so we are easier to control, and their primary tool for quite a number of years are the over 100 conservative think tanks that are mostly if not entirely funded by these same oligarchs. Project 2025 was written by these think tanks, with the Heritage Foundation at the forefront, and Trump’s administration is chock full of their members. There is a phrase used to tell us how to stop a difficult situation – Cut it off at the head. Is a possible to file a civil suite against these think tanks and or the oligarchs who fund them for attempting to subvert our government?. Or could the liberal state governments charge them with something similar. With Trump in control of the executive I don’t see anyway to get the federal government to take such an action.
I think greed and lust for power among the rich, leading to money taking over our politics, is up there with racism as the root. Racism/fear of the other is the tool the rich are using to achieve their ends (more wealth/power.) Related- saw this post on FB today about proposed Indiana law essentially pushing Christian Nationalism. Also up there with racism for a lot of people. “This is House Resolution 1556 (2025) from the Indiana General Assembly—a non-binding resolution that explicitly promotes Christian nationalism and calls for government officials to submit to Jesus Christ and biblical principles.
Here’s what it’s really saying, in plain terms;
What It Claims:
*The Founding Fathers sought “righteousness” through biblical principles (not historical fact).
*America was built on “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” (a theological framing).
*The nation should “humble itself” and be a “city on a hill”—a reference to Christian exceptionalism.
*Indiana lawmakers should acknowledge “divine providence” and “submit” to Jesus Christ.
What It Actually Is:
This resolution is a direct violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
It’s not just performative religiosity, it’s a government body making a declaration that Christianity should guide policy, law, and governance.
It openly states:
*That the Indiana House of Representatives submits to Jesus Christ.
*That they are committed to upholding “biblical principles” in their public duties.
*That all this should be distributed by the Principal Clerk, making it an official government action.
What This Means for All Hoosiers:
*This isn’t harmless. It’s a declaration of religious governance.
*It marginalizes non-Christians, atheists, and even Christians who believe in the true constitutional separation of church and state.
This resolution:
*Sets a precedent for using religion to justify legislation.
*Signals support for a Christian nationalist agenda.
*Should alarm anyone who values pluralism, democracy, or religious freedom.
**Faith is personal. Law is public. And the minute we blur the line, we risk erasing everyone who doesn’t bow to the dominant dogma.**”
Faith is personal. Law is public. Can not say this too much or too often.
Internet is basically a good tool to communicate, research and shop, which are pluses especially for elderly. I’m amazed at the technology, how all the pixels come together and connect in a vast network to bring information directly to you.
I don’t think that outright harmful lies that cause people to make bad decisions should be allowed. Remembering the quack cures for covid that were harmful and, in some cases, fatal. Also remembering the story of Orsen Wells airing “The War of the Worlds” that caused mass hysteria which resulted in the government taking action to monitor what could go over the airwaves. It seems that if information is broadcast news over airways or internet, some people think that it must be true which leads to bad decision making.
Controlling the narrative is powerful and in authoritarianism it’s considered infallible. No questions to be asked and no contradiction. That way blocks truth finding and progress for everyone. It’s oppressive and harmful.
As far as conspiracy theories some of them are true. Remember the “Russian Hoax” just read the Mueller report for the facts. Also, Congress passed some legislation a few years ago, so the public could attain information about UAPs. Scientific evidence and firsthand reports had been labeled top secret by US government, especially the army and were not available to the public. Now some of that evidence is available to study.
Stephen Miller, standing in the oval office and saying that The Supreme Court ruled 9 to 0 in favor of Trump’s administration legality to ship migrants to foreign prisons, when the opposite was true needs to be sanctioned. It seems that information said to the press in the oval office should have some level of (sanctity)semblance to the truth.
Michelle,
Do you recall when there were those in Congress freaking out about Sharia law? That means religious rule was on their minds. And it usually is very telling in the direction they move towards if they have an opportunity. Just like when someone projects their misconduct on others. Same thing.
Caren,
Correct, citizens in this country are allowed to worship a god they choose. Originally, the abrahamists, ie Muslims, Jews, and certain Christians for the mmostpart, we’re not welcome in this country. The first Jewish congregation was welcomed by George Washington, but they were afraid. Read the letter! The first Muslims were many of the African slaves. They were not allowed open freedom. They were actually here before Jews, Catholics, and any other religion besides native American beliefs. The Protestants claimed to run away from persecution and then persecuted plenty when they became the top dog. Then, can the Chinese who were not considered human and persona non grata just like the African Muslims and Protestants, who were considered four fifths human!
Manifest Destiny was to allow this country power over the entire planet by slavery and agrarian might. Basically agriculture. This also led to American exceptionalism which the French laughed at, because they knew America was not exceptional. America was not a democracy. The Germans though understood what the deal was and patterned their Nazi movement after the American form of rule. Concentration camps, eliminating the competition, and their own version of manifest destiny, Liebenshrem (room to grow).
Just like DT wants to ship Americans to El Salvador and pay El Salvador for new prisons. Coincidentally El Salvador uses the American dollar for currency. What a shocker that is! El Salvador as a long history of shenanigans with the United States. Just look at the Iran Contra affair and Ollie North falling on his sword to try and make it go away. El Salvador was right in the middle of it all.
So yeah, this country is based on private worship, but it’s not the worship of any particular entity, the God is money, the God is power, the God is what they see in the mirror!
It isn’t that simple is it? Just think of the hundreds of millions of native Americans slaughtered like the Buffalo. America’s brand of humanity is very brutal. Just like the reinterpretation of human rights by the justice department.
Sheila and Sharon nailed it down very well. My dad cut to the chase ages ago. He would be pleased that people are beginning to catch on. Dad simply said, “We’ve (Dems) been too damn nice for too damn long!” They’re catching on, Pop! They really are! I wish you could be here to see it!