Every morning, when I go on Facebook, there are at least 2-3 posts that need to be hidden. I have quite a few ‘friends’ and family members who are more ‘anti Hillary’ than they are pro Trump, and the posts usually reflect that frame of mind. I’ve learned quite awhile back that it’s useless to engage, especially on Facebook. So, I just hit the ‘hide post’ button.
(OK- not for nothing, but I really miss that orange little squiggly thing.)
Yesterday, my nephew, who I know is a fairly intelligent young man, posted an article about Trump’s visit to Baton Rouge. The gist of the article was ...’where was Obama?- Oh, playing golf. And only Trump has the leadership skills to lead this country. Blah blah blah.”
Before I hit the ‘hide post’ button, I checked the source of the article. Sure enough, it was Redstate. And that got me thinking.
I visit six blog sites every day. All of them progressive/liberal sites. Many times, the same news story will be pulled apart on all of them. Sometimes only a few will carry it. But I know that although I am receiving the basic facts of the story- I am getting a liberal slant. There will never be a positive Republican story (unless you count those who are endorsing Hillary) on these sites.
However, if the Democrats run into trouble, or there is a glitch in the campaign, most of my favorite sites will cover that story. Not happy news, but the facts are the facts. Nothing is glossed over. No made up excuses to spin the infraction to a positive outcome.
I don’t have the stomach to visit any conservative sites. But I can get the idea of what’s going on over there because there are so many brave people who do that dirty work for me. And Facebook allows me to see what the conservatives deem newsworthy. Doesn’t matter if it is not true. Doesn’t matter if it is hate speech. Doesn’t matter if the post is ridiculous beyond facts.
This is all they know.
I doubt very much that my nephew reads Think Progress, or Democratic Underground. I don’t think he’s ever seen the play-do picture or knows about the directive from the governor to stay home. All he knows is that Trump went to help and Hillary and President Obama did not.
I remember a survey taken awhile back that stated people who watch FOX news know less about what’s happening in the world than those who watch no news at all. The same can be true about people who read right wing conservative sites. Trump can do no wrong- has done no wrong- and will continue to do no wrong.
When I tried to engage a ‘friend’ about Trump’s statement about “he has no right’ to go on national TV and criticize me about the Constitution, pointing out that the First Amendment guarantees that right, I was given the whole Benghazi-e-mail- Forster murderer defense. It never mattered what facts I was pointing out. That person was deaf to reality. And pushing too much just produced name calling and foul language.
We have two factions of media. Two factions of voters. Two factions of core beliefs. No matter what is revealed about the Republicans, no matter how horrible the story, the majority of that right wing conservative base will never know the truth. And one slip up by Democrats will be front page news, blown all the way out of proportion.
To wish and hope for a neutral media- journalists who only want to seek the truth, is a pipe dream.
And, to point out to friends and loved ones that they are being duped into following a grand scheme is just something they not only want to hear but refuse to accept. Because who wants to admit to being played a fool?
I feel so sorry for them.