Lobsters In The Pot
I should know better than to read any of the comments on social media that are responsive to anything even remotely political. It is clear that the apparent anonymity the internet gives also gives people the unbriadled opportunity to say whatever comes into their head. I avoid them not because i disagree with them. I avoid them because I want to deny the terrible truth that they verify. Of particular concern for me recently was a news agency’s post about how Trump will be limiting or exiling reporters from the White House. To the average American this should be an alarming idea. It used to be. In fact, it should have been alarming when Trump alluded to this in his darkly toned speech at the Republican National Convention. I looked at the comments hoping that I would find outrage, concern, and indignation in response to this information. I didn’t see that. I did see this:
Alan Buckles So when did the press corp become the fourth branch of government. They are at the invitation of the president. The last time I read the constitution it said there were 3 branches of government
1. Presidents-white house
2. Legislators-capital building
3. Supreme Court-hall of justiceI never seem
Press corp-white house briefing room.The press is arrogant
And this:
Donnie Campbell I think Trump should treat the press just like the press has treated him. You can’t smack someone around and then expect them to kiss you on the cheek.
And this:
Missy Bell Davis He should since our news sources have turned into the fourth column of our government…listen, the MSM treated Obama like the second coming…until our press starts acting like professional journalists and not an extension of the democratic party, all of you are suspect…you need to earn respect since your favorability numbers are less than our congress and cockroaches…as much as our press hates Twitter, the more he proves you aren’t needed..,JEEZ!
To be fair there were some, although dramatically fewer, responses that reflected a support for the press. I am glad to see that. But as we start down this road with a President Trump it is clear that the public’s interest in keeping a check on what our elected officials are doing is not a priority. Monitoring out elected leaders appears to be a nuisance, in fact. We are content to hand over the keys to the kingdom so that we can stare into our phones as our brin softens and leaks out of our ears. This rejection of the press indicates that the erosion of what is intergral to what we know as America has already progressed so far as to destabalize the delicate foundation that we base our democracy on. In other words — the disease has progressed too far. There is no cure.
I don’t want to be cynical. I want to believe that we will turn things around, but I don’t believe that. I believe that the die has been cast. The worst is yet to come for America. These comments, these harmless comments from strangers on social media, are the proof that we are too far gone. I don’t mean that the liberal agenda is gone (it is) or that the conservative agenda is in control (it is)— i mean the fundamental basis of America is gone. The election of Trump and the rise of nationalism across the planet is proof. Never before has the term “Slippery slope” been more apropos. The future for a dark and weakened America is here because the momentum driving us to that outcome is too strong to overcome.
The irony here is that many Trump voters claim to have supported this man because they are afraid of terrorism — but the terrorists won when he was elected. The point of modern terrorism was to bring the U.S. collectively to this point where we stop believing that a free press is a fundamental component of democracy — like lungs, or a heart. The point of terrorism is to destabalize the stable. The point of terrorism is to gaslight and breakdown our trust in eachother. The point of terrorism is to give way to a weak leader too naive to understand that he alone cannot bring us the stability we need. These comments are evidence that our path has been laid out. I know because a united people is the only remedy to any problem. Working together is the only answer ever. We didn’t make that choice.
I am no psychic but I know human behavior. When we turn on the press, the one group that can ensure that we know what our leaders in power are doing, we cut off our own nose to spite our face. We have become the country we fear when we make these comments. A bunch of lobsters in the pot, just excited the water is getting toasty and blithe to the fact that we are boiling ourselves alive.
I hope I am wrong. I’m not though.
