Editor,
Of the countless, unthinkable threats to our Democracy over the last several years, the one that concerns me most at the moment is the threat to our Free Press. The people of Russia are presently living as indoctrinated subjects of state-controlled information. With a non-existent free press and through a single news source, Putin has convinced the majority of people his maniacal attack on the people of Ukraine is a just and worthy cause.
Russian citizens do not have the advantage of hearing unbiased facts, nor seeing the actual carnage because their one source of information is what Putin wants them to hear. This is the life you can expect from Fascists, dictators and authoritarian governments that control what you hear, see and ultimately think.
America is dangerously close to a similar fate. Throughout Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency his mantra was “Fake News,” referring to it repeatedly as “The True Enemy of the People,” repeating it over 2,000 times during his term. It was a battle cry at rallies, directing attention to the reporters present, encouraging hostility toward them.
It got results, inciting many to make death threats toward journalists. One 56-year-old man, Mr. Sayoc, mailed pipe bombs to CNN and Democrat targets. The most frightening result, though, is that people heard the lie so often, so relentlessly, for many it became their truth.
It was part of a larger media strategy aimed at monopolizing the nation’s non-stop political news cycle. The news was almost entirely Trump-related, providing him a captive audience for the implementation of the Big Lie and the indoctrination (yes, indoctrination) of a large portion of the nation.
“The Big Lie” was coined by Hitler in his book, Mein Kampf. Its purpose was to use a lie so colossal that no one could believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Hitler’s primary rules were: Never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough, people will sooner or later believe it.
[Sarah Huckabee Sanders] is following the same tactic in her campaign. In a recent television ad one child tattles on the other child watching CNN. In dramatic fashion SHS raises the remote control and blasts CNN off the air as if she’s using an AK47 – phantom message: Fake News.
This is not the model of leadership for a democratic nation. For the sake of our Democracy, We the People must step forward and ensure no one who threatens this freedom is elected to any office in the county, state, or nation.
Pat Gunn
Holiday Island