As I said, I am a scientist, and though scientists get things wrong due to a lack of knowledge or insufficient data, we do not get things wrong in a deliberate attempt to call attention away from our own failings. It is this all-out war on basic truth that I find so appalling. George Orwell could not have written this situation better. After proclaiming “We’re doing great,” Trump has now tested positive. The United States has the most deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the world, the most coronavirus cases in the world, and much of that world has banned travel from the U.S. How many times have we heard it would just “one day magically disappear”? There’s a public-health policy for you. Donald Trump came up against something he couldn’t spin. The virus doesn’t care what you believe, it doesn’t care who you vote for, it doesn’t care where you live. This was all working pretty well until coronavirus came along. Casting journalists in this light allows him to be the sole arbiter of “truth,” a scheme aided and abetted daily by talk radio and FoxNews propagandists. The mistake that journalists have made is to assume that our current president and his ilk have any intention of playing by those same rules.īy repeatedly labeling the free press “THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” (yep, he does it in all caps) the 45th President of the United States declares open warfare on the First Amendment to the Constitution. In other words, playing by the rules of a polite society. The people with whom I worked at several media outlets tirelessly sought to achieve accuracy even when interview subjects were hiding the truth.īalance in storytelling was also the topic of long conversations in editorial meetings.to be sure that all relevant, varied points of view in a story were presented in a restrained, respectful way. The wealth of close contact that I enjoyed brought me to the conclusion that journalists do not set out to lie, twist the truth or advance an agenda. I am a scientist who happened to be engaged in mass media, like Bill Nye without the bow tie.Īs such, I observed journalists for a long, long time. My training is in psychology and political science, and then late in my college career, I cultivated my fascination with meteorology. Regardless of how you label yourself politically, it should be horrifying to see the relentless assault on truth that engages most of our current president’s time and energy. As a fiscal conservative who believes that everyone in the United States should have equal access under the law, there is not a tidy cubbyhole in which I can store my philosophies. It’s inconceivable that a person with those attitudes and (again, self-confessed) behaviors would be hired for any job in a position of authority at any organization, yet here we are.įor pointing these facts out, I’ve been called - well, I’ve been called a lot of things, the gist of which comes down to “liberal.” Fact is, I’ve been a registered Republican, Democrat and, for several years (including now), Unaffiliated. When the entire fabrication unraveled, Trump simply turned everyone’s attention to the next shiny object of distraction and we obediently went along for one of what would turn out to be many excursions down the rabbit hole.Īs for the Access Hollywood recording, you have a man either bragging about sexual assault or lying to Billy Bush about committing sexual assault there’s no third choice. However, that did not stop Donald Trump from repeatedly, over the course of several years, questioning Barack Obama’s legitimacy as president. The birther movement was based on fiction. “Racism and sexism are alive and well in the United States of America,” I responded.Īfter seeing our 45th president’s rise to power fueled by the “birther” movement and his callous attitudes toward women self-described (one might say “confessed”) in the Access Hollywood tape, there is no other conclusion a reasonable person could reach. To anyone gleefully saying that I got what I deserved, I agree, so let’s move on.back to our imperiled democracy.Īt a public event the Saturday after the 2016 election, a colleague asked me what I thought of the result of the presidential race. They set the rules, standards of conduct and guidelines for content. My former employer did the right thing in firing me. Distilled to its most elemental expression, that is the reason why I blew up a 35-year career in broadcast media to add my voice to the alarms sounding about the current state of our Republic. Better to be a good American than a good employee.
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