You've said a lot in a few sentences here. First off....to the bolded. This is a total myth that has been propagated by the likes of right wing media outlets like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Like it's been said on here, Fox News actually reports some pretty good news from their journalism rooms. So does CNN. So does CNBC. So does NBC, ABC, CBS. But, for some reason, back in the 80s, a few right wing loud mouths started planting the seeds of "fake news" and "left wing Lame Stream Media"..."Fair and Balanced". This has boiled over in the last 10 years to the point where we now have a President that his total administration is built around the myth that certain complete news outlets (not just their opinion shows) are fake. Interestingly....they are always the ones that report something bad about him. Funny how that happens.
Now, this leads to the rest of your paragraph. This has lead a significant number of our population to think they need to believe social media crap that is circulated by people who don't have our country's best interest at heart. One big player in this is Russia. It has been proven they are the biggest creator of these misleading or totally fake posts that go viral. I remember a while back, someone who supports Trump on here said...."meh...all Russia did was post a few things on Facebook". That person has absolutely no clue the influence those have....or, he's choosing to ignore it because it helps his side.
To get to the gist of the original question. We are in a very very difficult time in our country. The Civil War and the 60s and early 70s were extremely tough. We literally had a war on our soil between states that killed more Americans than any other foreign war. The 60s and 70s saw extreme unrest, unjust wars and assassinations and impeachment of our political leaders.
This situation is different than all of those because of what I discussed in my first two paragraphs. A significant amount of our population is caught in this information bubble that they can't get out of, mainly because they don't realize they need out. Everything they read and hear shows that they are right and it constantly is taking them deeper and deeper in that direction. Then, when you have the leader of our country that is even promoting this...it's a major issue. Actually, this might be one of the biggest reasons he should be thrown out of office. He directly has lead to an increase in what you said in your last sentence. He is living off of America not having trust and faith in our institutions. One of the biggest is his constant attack on our intelligence community. This same intelligence community has the job of investigating anyone in our government and letting us know when something is wrong. Well......gee.....wonder why he's constantly attacking them.
I have no clue how we are going to get out of this but I am very concerned about the America my kids are going to raise their families in.
Interesting input for sure. Question regarding mainstream media: What percentage of the "news" that's reported on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, etc do you feel is actually credible news with verified sources of information without being spun to fit a narrative? I don't need Donald Trump to say anything for me to know that the percentage of actual legitimate reporting is EXTREMELY low... That's irresponsible at best & more likely outright crooked in my view. I'd be interested in what you think on that.
As far as social media, yes, there are definitely foreign parties that create fake posts with the intention to stir people up and divide them - Russia is undoubtedly a BIG part of that. And again, the media presents it as Russia trying to influence our election in favor of Trump, but that's not what happened in 2016. It was to create outrage among extremists on both right and left. Other than that, it's mostly boomers like my aunt that share anything that comes across their feed and confirms their viewpoint, without any verification of that info (side note: I always find it funny when in the course of a few hours, she'll share a post blasting socialist programs and another post praising social security). But that's a really tough spot also. I personally don't want Washington or Silicon Valley to determine what's "real news" and decide for me what I can see on my feed. There's got to be ways to combat that other than censorship. It's already an issue on platforms like Youtube and Facebook, and they haven't really done much yet.
Regarding our current situation and hopefully answering
@knapplc question as well: Say what you want about the framers of the constitution, but our constitution is a masterpiece in regards to historical observation of the inevitable slide toward tyranny that ALL governments are subject to. The governmental structure that was set up 250ish years ago was to ensure that the executive branch doesn't have too much power. Over the past hundred years or so (probably longer) we've seen that balance of power erode gradually to the point where the president can use an executive order and bypass congress on issues of HUGE significance. So the people that think Trump is abusing his power should take a long look in the mirror and wonder why ANY president should be able to have so much authority - it should be near irrelevant who the president is. The government as a whole has grown excessively bureaucratic, and the scope of the federal government has grown FAR too large. The Dept of Education is a perfect example. No Child Left Behind has done extensive damage to the quality of education in this country (hand-in-hand with standardized testing & funding being tied to them), and there's absolutely no reason the federal government should be able to mandate what foods can & can't be served in a school lunch room. Then we could delve into the issue of government guaranteed student loans... The DOE has done infinitely more harm than good, and that case could be made for nearly every department at the federal government.
And finally, regarding the lack of faith in the intelligence agencies and other institutions, do you really feel that people feel that way because of Trump?... Even after the intelligence agencies lied about WMDs in the middle east so people would support going to war? Even seeing how federal courts, universities, and intelligence agencies have become infiltrated with leftist ideologues? I know that convo could get into the weeds quickly....
I just absolutely don't see Trump as the source of the problems - he's merely a result, and his election is a statement by much of the population that's fed up with career politicians, the political establishment, political correctness, and the overreaching nature of the government at-large (and also that people would rather vote for a guy who's being accused by 20 women of sexual assault than Hillary Clinton :lol: ).
I'm interested to hear your thoughts, BRB
