Rand Paul spoke these words last week....aimed at the new Disinformation group being created in Homeland Security.
Over the weekend, it's been on my mind a good bit.
I'll make five observations over the statement:
1. I hate to disagree with Rand, but on stupidity-meter....I'd say a good two-thirds of Americans are fairly stupid, and half of them might have college education (maybe even a PhD), and not be able to view something with open eyes.
2. I can say that the amount of propaganda, fake-news, and biased chatter....is enough to make this problem bigger than what it ought to be. Unless you tossed the TV....used the radio for weather and calming music, and used the internet to share mostly pictures of 'Pinky' (your dog) and 'Zippy' (your cat).....you probably get a dose of 'stupidity' every single day.
3. On the other side of this....the US government is probably the last place on Earth that you want to 'correct' the disinformation chatter, or to bring truth to the 'town-square'.
You also wouldn't want your minister, your boss, your NFL coach favorite, your wife's brother, your Mexican landscape guy, or your transmission guy to attempt some truth commission effort.
4. In some cases, even if you can reach a truth conclusion....it might spoil the fantasy world that the majority of Americans live in today.
Would you want California to admit of every hundred dollars spent on homeless projects of the past decade.....seventy percent of the money went into a 'pit' and had zero value for the problem?
Would you want Seattle to admit that two-thirds of all homeless people can't pass a drug test, or are in a state of paranoid delusions on a daily basis?
Would you want NY state to admit that when they closed all those mental health facilities in the 1960s/1970s.....that they basically opened up the state prison system, and house the mentally unfit there today?
Would you want pro-baseball to admit that 168 of Barry Bonds home-runs....were asteroid-driven?
Would you want NBC to admit that Saturday Night Live has been 'dead' for almost twenty years?
Would you want the general public to admit that they are fed up with the two political parties, and they want five or six parties to exist instead?
Would you want the government to admit that six Senators and fourteen House members are mentally unfit for the job?
5. Finally, lets just admit it.....truth is pretty boring stuff. If I did the right thing and gave you a nine-minute 'batch' of news....with no bias or propaganda....would you enjoy it, or feel 'cheated' in some way?
News has become....sad to admit this....kinda like wrestling. You have some good guys and bad guys in the ring.....with the result being entertainment, which news has now become.
At some point, you'd really like for Junk-Yard-Dog to arrive, or George 'The Animal' Steel to enter the building to square away all the fake stuff.
