This week must be a turning point for progressive activists in America. Gullibility to lies, anti-intellectualism, and acquiescence all converged, a signal we must heed to our demise.
Taking America to the brink
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I spend 14 to 16 hours a day watching multiple TV screens of cable news, Netflix documentaries, and reading news articles, both American and foreign. I am an engineer by education, not a scientist or historian. I could not participate effectively in national programs to discuss Plato, the Greek Empire, the precolonial Kingdoms of Africa, Aristotle, and other high-minded philosophical discourse. Engineers skim the work of scientists, historians, philosophers, and just about every other profession to build useful things for society — a car, a bridge, an airplane, a water system. In building anything for humans to use, science is not enough; a level of culture, history, philosophy, and other competencies are essential.
As I left engineering and software development to focus on full-time journalism, it became clear to me that gullibility to lies, anti-intellectualism, and acquiescence to whatever — fascists, dictators, manipulators, etc. are a result of journalists not being engineers. Let me be clear, when I say engineer, I am not speaking about that person who is a degreed engineer necessarily. In fact, the engineer who had the most significant impact on my professional software engineering career was a guy who barely made it out of high school but was the best software engineer I know to date. It’s the mindset of taking inputs and creating something useful out of them.
There are a few mainstream journalists who exemplify the tenets as mentioned above, even within the corporate constraints they are held to. MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Chris Hayes fit the profile. They are engineers. Outside of some in the print media and progressive rags, I cannot think of any.
This week, a caller to my KPFT 90.1 FM program was distraught. “Did you hear the stupid questions they were asking?” the caller asked. He was right; they asked nothing of substance and were afraid to push back on the lies and misinformation.
While many see Donald Trump as a thug, bully, criminal, assaulter of women, an anti-intellectual, and a liar, too many acquiesce to, on my thinking days, I see him as an opportunity to finally set our country on the right track. Trump ripped a nasty, dirty scab off a deep infection. No longer could one go around the scab to ignore the centuries-long infection. As time passed, the infection not only grew but also acquired various additional infecting agents.
Journalists (media engineers) examine each infection, its history, and its science, and report it in a consequential manner for others to build solutions upon. Listen to the preambles both Ali Velshi and Rachel Maddow give to their segments. They cannot go too far beyond the “reporting,” but they become one of many inputs that independent journalists can use to leverage their work to trigger actions.
There are several stories this week that we must engineer our educational efforts and take direct action.
- The cratering of the robust job market Biden left for Trump allows for the revelation of some historical truths about the economy under Republicans in a manner that resonates with people in Appalachia, Houston, New York, or LA.
- The economy always does better under Democratic stewardship.
- MAGA are losing jobs at a faster clip than other Americans.
- Every purchase you make is a tax you pay to give a rich guy a tax cut.
- The president, like all snake oil salespeople, now says the good times come in another year (yep, after the midterms)
- Insurance rate hikes from the loss of subsidies begin this year.
- Rural hospitals are not waiting till after the elections to close.
- Our rural brothers and sisters must be informed ad nauseam about the cause of their pain with receipts.
- The RFK level of anti-intellectualism is fatal.
- The measles deaths are just the tip of the iceberg.
- Difficulties in obtaining the vaccines will result in deaths.
- Gutting research dollars to give tax cuts and slow down medical research is a death sentence to many with chronic illnesses.
- Billionaires’ sycophancy to Trump in a meeting where they all but called him Capitalist Jesus was hard to watch. They have always been paper tigers, dependent on others to serve their inability to do anything commensurate with their wealth. It is what makes them acquiesce not only in America but to every fascist dictator because they hope the power of the “leader” of the military and police to maintain their pillage of the suppressed masses. Bill Gates was sitting next to Melania, and Mark Zuckerberg was next to Trump. Why? Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp are under his control for propaganda. And if you doubt he controls Zuckerberg, the hot mic capture is probative. Trump caught Zuckerberg by surprise and asked him how much he is investing in America. He fumbled a bit, then said $600 billion. But on the hot mic in conversation with Trump, he said, “Sorry, I wasn’t ready …I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.”
The above are just a few topics that the mainstream media failed to provide critical and informed analysis to their audience. Why? For most, they do not want to rock the boat. Yet, for an indoctrinated population that is gullible to lies and anti-intellectualism, finding acquiescence comfortable, it is essential to expose the realities above. That is what many independent journalists, the news engineers, are doing. It is what I do on my radio shows on KPFT 90.1 FM, Houston, my online programs, videos on TikTok, Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, Twitch, X (Twitter), email newsletters, articles on major websites, books, and emerging platforms. It is what must be done if we are to awaken people who are asleep, make them “woke” by another name. We do not just speak to our choir. If we are to win, we must engage with those who disagree, including those who are indoctrinated, even as they vote against their own interests, those of their families, and ours.
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