Enough already…

I watched a video the other day that showed the January 6th insurrectionists inscribing “Murder the media!” on the walls of the capital, followed by countless clips of number 45 accusing the media of spreading fakes news and declaring them “Enemies of the people.”

It got me thinking, and while I have said it before it bears repeating. The first rule in the authoritarian’s playbook is to control the messaging. The three Ds of their power are Deny, Deflect, and Denigrate.

Deny the facts. Deflect from your own actions and intentions. Denigrate your perceived enemies.

You do all of that by controlling the message, and when something gets in the way of the message you denigrate it, while ramping up the first two Ds. A free press is the corner stone of a free democracy, and the bane of any crooked politician’s existence. A free press is designed to hold the governments feet to the fire. To call out bad behavior, nefarious intentions, and indefensible actions.

Democracy begins to crumble and fade into dictatorship when a free press is exterminated. It is the first steppingstone down a path leading toward fascism.

One would think that in a world with cell phone video, drone surveillance, text messages, emails and worldwide internet communication denying the facts would be harder, but it continues with great earnest none-the-less. Putin has been doing it during his entire invasion of Ukraine. The Commander of Plausible Deniability did it through his entire Presidency and still does.

Putin continues to deflect as well. Drawing attention away from his crumbling economy by insisting he is liberating Ukraine and freeing it from the clutches of Nazi-ism despite the fact his own actions are precisely in line with a Nazi regimes’ intentions.

Our own would-be Dictator in Chief deflected diligently away from his involvement with Russia, his trampling of the Constitution, and years of potentially criminal activities by pointing a finger at Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden, and the Deep State, while accusing others of lying, as he went about curating the biggest lie of all.

When Putin was called out for his own lies and deflections, he simply shut down the free press who dared to confront him, the dastardly benefits of a true dictator.

When the U.S. Conspirator in Chief was called out by the free press he launched a denigration campaign declaring them disseminators of falsehoods, fake news propagandists, a dishonest tribe out to get him and more decisively, “The enemy of the people.” This was not an original idea, since the man-boy doesn’t have an original idea. Labeling the press as “Enemy of the People” was done before, during World War II by Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler.

The internet has not made deciphering truth from fiction easy, in fact it has made it considerably harder. Which is why we must work harder as citizens to pay attention to what is seen with our own eyes; videos, text messages, the actions of those in Washington, the White House and more importantly our state capitals.

When governors like Ron DeSantis begin wielding Revenge Governance and targeting marginalized citizens to stoke efforts to reach the highest office in the land rather than addressing issues which would help their own state constituents or, dare they make it into the WhiteHouse, the country-at-large, their fascist move should not be rewarded with continued success.

Simply acknowledging that a child has two moms, two dads or can feel a certain way is not a matter of grooming. It is a matter of understanding. Showing compassion and acceptance is not a form of indoctrination, it’s a form of civility meant to curb the bullying, fear, and thoughts of suicide faced by so many young gay people. A rainbow flag or sticker is not going to make your kid gay.

When I grew up there was nary a gay character residing in Mayberry. The beaver and Wally never ogled over Eddie Haskell. My Three Sons, Father Knows Best, Dick Van Dyke and others, fawned only over girls and never had any gay friends. None of the eight kids on Eight is Enough were gay. It didn’t make me any straighter.

It did make me more frightened to admit how I felt as I noted the defined pecs on a teenage boy at five, had a crush on the blue-eyed boy in class at seven, and finally had my first sexual experience with two older boys at twelve, while thoughts of suicide crept in every now and then.

When Disney, the state of Florida’s largest employer-with a large contingent of gay employees-and Orange County’s biggest economic engine dared to criticize DeSantis vowing to overturn his-what has been dubbed-“Don’t Say Gay” bill, the Governor launched swift retribution. A retribution that will cost taxpayers an additional $2,200 or more in annual taxes and see property taxes rise by as much as 25%.

How dare Disney criticize the Supreme Leader. How dare the “fake media” cover him so negatively. He is after all, only thinking about the people of Florida. Is he? Retribution against those who dissent is not democratic governance, it’s dictatorship. We must call it out for what it is, and we must allow the free press to do it. We must decide sooner rather than later that “enough is enough”.

Further we must remember that a free press is crucial to a free democracy. For if we take away the free press, we lose sight of what is really happening. We risk our democracy sliding into a fascist state with its’ citizens drawn into a dark abyss of fiction over facts, gaslighting in lieu of transparency, and a world where truth is nothing more than myth.

Thanks for stopping by.

G.

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