My Thoughts At 3:17 AM
I went on a bit of a diatribe on Twitter a little bit ago. I was making the comparison of the self-imposed censorship on Twitter with the self-imposed slavery of socialism. This, versus the FREE use of Twitter with little interaction (if any) with the heads of the site regarding censorship of the users, and anarcho-socialism which is genuine prosperity of the people of a nation with little (if any) interaction with that of the government.
Instead, we have a censored social network (two of them, actually) dominating everything on the WWW that lends favor to propaganda accounts and establishment powers to say + do whatever they want. Meanwhile, in the real world, we have a tyrant as the POTUS that was put there by Russian voter fraud that was far-overlooked and well under-reported because the establishment was too busy trying to get their power player in the White House (Hillary Clinton).
What should be concerning the majority of Americans, is the fact that Puerto Rico has been largely without power for over a year + 4K people have passed away because of this. I give kudos to the fact that the Fourth Estate (the U.S. media) has enough integrity to report on the fact that the immigrant children who get ripped from their mothers arms is a newsworthy-enough story to stop covering Trump departing his plane to go to Mar-a-lago for more than one news cycle. I hope this type of integrity in the media actually keeps up for a while, but they (the media) lost all credibility with me years ago when they “moved along” and didn't keep with the tragedies of Sandy Hook in their headlines when that atrocity happened.
Going back to Twitter, we have folks like Emma Gonzalez continually participating in/promoting the March For Our Lives events occurring across the country and the movement is stronger than ever, yet, the U.S. media gives little to no coverage of this on their networks, in their publications. We have come full circle to there being an establishment “checks and balances” system of the journalists standing up for the everyday citizen and challenging those of authority, to there being an establishment press corps who is more concerned with access and their own power struggle. It has then been left to the everyday citizen to stand up for him/herself via social media. Citizen journalists, so to speak, are the only ones drawing attention to true matters and issues that should actually be relevant to people in the United States and around the world.
There is little to no benefit is watching the news on television, nor listening to it on the radio, nor reading it in a newspaper / magazine / mainstream website. These have been long-since compromised by those of either immense power, wealth concentrated interests, or access-seeking journalists who will do the bidding of whoever gets them the most recognition.
What can be reasonably relied-upon is reason. In and of itself. Critical thinking. Independent decision-making. The ability for the average citizen to think for themselves has eroded heinously since mass media has come into everyday life. Perhaps there was still some chance of a “breather”, a pause, a break, a time to reflect BEFORE everyone carried around smartphones and emphatically checked their Newsfeed/Timeline every 60 seconds. But instead, we have a nation of the scared, triggered, and neurotic citizenry who (ironically) believe they are informed, empathetic, and connected.
Perhaps, people can leave their phones on their bedside table for a bit? Perhaps limit their television intake? Stop listening to the radio in their car on the way to work? Stop reading what amounts to a triggering headline in their Newsfeed only to share it (along with everybody else) in their social circle. These things are a cancer on American society. Instead of doing these things, take a day, a week, a month or more, to yourself and visit your local library. Read about something that interests YOU! Talk with your friends and family instead of looking down at a glass slab every 60 seconds. If one of them brings up happenings in the world, change the subject. Be aware of your immediate surroundings in the Here and Now. Be conscious.