A debt of thanks to the American media. Whether liberal and progressive, conservative and libertarian, without them we would be in severe trouble. (Fox News and its avatars of  untruth and purposeful deception are not deserving of thanks; they are a major part of the problem). As we have hopefully learned from the past, tyrannical leaders and false prophets cannot long remain in power without their own media puppets. Given the public imprimatur of respectability granted Fox and their like, some examination is required.

As is the case with most tyrants, an ability to attract adherents is directly related to their control, use and manipulation, of the media. Be it led by Josef Goebbels (Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda), or promoted in Russia’s broadsheet, Pravda, political movements thrive on publicity and public praise. Without Fox, the Trumpian creed would have had difficulty in reaching its mass audience. While other media platforms were and are also compliant, the daily and purposeful expressions of illogic and falsehood by Fox reaches millions of people ready to believe, including a few years ago,  an ill-suited candidate for office who then became President.

Today, Trump gets his news and ideas from the Fox crew and then goes on to develop policies based on what he heard regardless of their origins and/or validity. That’s the problem. Audiences throughout history are usually ready to believe the simplest explanations, especially when they find them supportive of their current attitudes. Even when the President’s attorney and “Court Jester” Rudy Giuliani states that “Truth isn’t truth,” too many of us are ready to say “exactly,” if that suits our predispositions.

While I am not suggesting that everyone must read The New York Times or Wall Street Journal or listen to CNN and NPR, the public must hold all media outlets accountable for their sometimes reckless and dangerous reporting. The First Amendment must remain sacrosanct, but that doesn’t mean Oliver Wendell Holmes was wrong when he questioned the legality of yelling “Fire” in a crowded theatre.

Of course, it is our master con-man and incompetent President who has significantly helped grace the media purveyors of untruth and distortion with a veneer of credibility. While Enablers in the media remain remarkably complicit, it is to the top of the pyramid we must now turn.