Presidential advisor Steve Bannon says media are the opposition party. And he may be right.
Even though Bannon holds some extremely foolish and wrong-headed political views, such as Islam being the nemesis of everything decent, good, noble, nice and Judeo-Christian in the world, he is spot on the money when it comes to figuring out the media.
And the media’s adversarial relationship is not with an individual or a party but with Truth and with the American People.
That is because media live to make money – by any means necessary. And to service all kinds of political, social and other agendas, both domestic and foreign.
So, between extreme political expediency and sycophancy and rabid money mongering, the media must lie to live. And the media know a million ways of lying, dissembling, creating distractions and covering up.
Therefore, the media are the flag carriers of fakeness in our society – a society that has waged its own painful struggle with truth ever since its founding. So much so that when we piece together the pieces of fakeness pouring into our lives from everywhere, it is hard not to call ourselves the Fake News Nation of the modern world.
Not only do the media have a million ways to lie, they are also very, very good at it. The media create facts and build news with breakneck speed to fill their ravenous bellies.
Here is an example. A simple Feb. 11 headline proclaims: “Trump Capitulates to China.”
Fact: Trump may not have, does not, did not.
When Trump took the call from the Taiwanese president, it was not necessarily a repudiation of the two-China policy. It may not have been more than a simple act of courtesy.
And Trump said so.
For others, it may have been a big deal. Especially to the media. To them it was big news. Another stick to beat Trump with.
To Trump, it was just being civil.
Trump made a lot of news. Stirred the pot a bit. Got everybody’s attention, including China’s, and then told the Chinese President in a personal phone call later that the entire ballyhoo was generated by the media, and he himself had no problem with the one-China policy.
I am sure President Xi understood.
So do the American people!
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