Thank God for the Free Press

Philosophy Forums Society, Government, and Economics
1

wordpress.com/post/ruminationfa … ss.com/745

A free press is the cornerstone of democracy; there is no question about that." -Hugh Grant

“The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people.” -Hugo Black

“The press doesn’t stop publishing, by the way, in a fascist escalation; it simply watches what it says. That too can be an incremental process, and the pace at which the free press polices itself depends on how journalists are targeted.” -Naomi Wolf

“When the public’s right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered.” -Christopher Dodd

“The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy - the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities - which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.” -Ronald Reagan

In a nation with a populace strife with individuals with mental problems who go on killing sprees, we have propaganda outlets, President Trump and the swathe of rabid Trump supporters who despise media pushing the envelope of demonizing the free press in the United States. We would not find any difference I suspect if it were the Nazi’s themselves attempting to discredit and de-legitimatize the free press, aside from intentionally seeking out journalists systematically and killing them. We have had mentally stable people already act on the epidemic copious dissemination of propaganda, such as the man who shot up Pizza Planet due to the accusations it was harboring a child pedophile ring for Hillary Clinton.

The continued attempt to debase, discredit and slander the media has ratcheted up in recent weeks again, with Trump hosting his “Fake News Awards”, which of course are all because of his incessant feud with the free press and the nature of what is happening around him, reality itself. The daily dose of drama of backstabbing, crying, pointing the fingers at everyone but themselves for the negative news that has plagued the Trump administration. The delirious narcissistic delusions that are harbored by the president and sustained by his sycophant staff keep Trump going it seems, yet reality marches on. No matter how much Trump screams fake news, the news pans out to be real. A year of denying Russian involvement in our election and years of denying any sort of collusion, all being called fake news by the delirious and seemingly hopelessly cornered administration, an actual email broke out about Trump Jr and staff’s very own meeting they had with them, about Hilary’s emails, that ended up being purveyed by Wikileaks themselves, long considered to be a shill for Putin in the intelligence community.

While 30% of the population clings to an illogical, fragile, and hopelessly delusional sense of reality that comes with believing the words of Trump and the becomingly increasingly bizarre propaganda arm of this administration, Fox News, the United States hasn’t seen any greater peril since possibly 9/11, if not world war II. As Putin salivates at the chance to peddle divisive propaganda among our nations social media, the president complies and pushes away from the news by preferring to think of it as fake and as such, make his loyal deluded followers agree. There is a sickness in the nation, yet reality marches on forever showing Trump that this war against the media and reality, is unwinnable. No matter how hard he squirms, the majority can see through the madness and delirium plaguing Trump and his supporters. This was the case in Nazi Germany as well, Hitler did never win a popular vote and most of the German people never did align with Nazism, yet the nation suffered nonetheless.

We see the end of Trumpism is nigh, a delusion sustained by pure propaganda. Reality marches on and it marches too against Trump, as his falsehoods and lies pile up, so does that of the bizarre propaganda sites peddled by the average Trump supporter of the past decade. Fox News, has diminished its credibility even more so than it ever has with its ridiculous reports on Seth Rich and Uranium One that even they themselves have had to grapple with. Yet there is a fervency in place that will make this a slow death.

For the mainstream media, we owe all of our thanks. For reporting the facts and the truth, to the thoughtful analysis by well reasoned intellects, the champion through it all has shined ever bright, regardless of the mud slung at it. Freedom of the Press is prevailing, so is its mark of credibility and integrity against the sheer veracity of a wounded delusional ideology. Of course, mistakes will happen, should happen and do happen, yet through it all, there have been none that have appreciated the wealth of journalists and journalism in all that it has supplied in 2017. For that, I am thankful for the work they have done, the strife they have endured. The Mainstream Media has retained its dignity as a whole, the snake of Trumpism is crushing under its feet, gasping for the last of its sputtered breaths. Yet it is not over, journalists may indeed get killed at the hand of some rabid Trump supporter. Their call to kill journalists has been alarming, their hatred of media bound to their own rigid propagandized mind. Yet, it always was fighting against a war that could not be won.

free press.jpg
free press.jpg850×400 60.5 KB

2

[img]Imgur: The magic of the Internet]

fake.jpg
fake.jpg581×705 79 KB

3

WWIII quoting Jefferson = classic topkeks

Yeah.

Don’t thank god, thank UrGod.

4

The end of the free press began in earnest in the 1980’s when the C.I.A. took over all information dissemination domestically and has been that way ever since. Then there was the government gag orders and jailing of journalists that began under George Bush Jr. Anymore all media platforms of the United States is under direct government control in total where there are no independent journalists anymore separate from the state. Around the same time in the 1980’s we also see full control of all colleges and universities where they’re fully regulated by the intelligence division of the United States government as well. Free press? Hasn’t existed in the United States for decades.

5

This.

6

The only thing the press is free from is any grasp of reality.

7

Haha yes.

breitbart.com/big-government … ig-winner/

8

Yet here we are with the press reporting reality.

9

10

Pointless post above.

11

Well, that was a great, great super comment from yourself.
Applaus guys!

12

Yes, I am so glad we have institutions like CNN, Washington Post, and MSNBC.

These media institutions clearly are bastions of journalistic truthful integrity staffed by college enlightened individuals that know better than the rest of us. They’re also politically progressive where you know that you can trust their unbiased insights, opinions, or perspectives on just about everything.

I am so grateful they’re independent of financial, business, or corporate influences in conducting the truthfulness of their profession. They’re independent of the government and its many intelligence or military defense agencies also, anybody that questions any of that clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. If it wasn’t for the liberal American media nobody would have any grasp on reality and I am thankful everyday they exist to serve the American public.

13

So many people imagine “the press” like it’s a single monolithic institution with a unified viewpoint. That’s where the real delusion is. i fail to understand how anyone with a functional internet connection and/or a working television could possibly think of the media that way - unless of course they, like the president, have something to gain by portraying the media as one side of an us-versus-them cultural war. But then, nowadays, most people who think of the media that way actually DO have something to gain from it - namely, the security guarantee of never having to accept anything the media reports as true (unless it confirms what they already want to believe). This is the origin of the “fake news” rallying cry so popular among the U.S. Toddler-in-Chief’s legions of braindead disciples - it goes like this: Trump says X, a bunch of media outlets point out that he is lying, and the idiots who support him shout “fake news”, then turn eagerly back to their dear leader with their mouths wide open, waiting anxiously for the next spoonful of shit he’s about to feed them. Repeat ad infinitum.

To the OP: i fear that the free press, no matter how successful it is at uncovering the truth, won’t be able to save us from Trump or the fools who support him. In the internet age, facts are powerless against willful ignorance.

14

I have yet to hear or see the media quote Trump word for word, they always change a word or two which makes all the difference. I particularly enjoy when the media takes a portion of one of Trump’s sentences out of context, twisting it ever so until it means something entirely different than how it was spoken or written in its original context. The greatest media lies are always their intros about what Trump has said, followed by a clip of Trump saying something completely different than what they alluded to, then they follow his clip carrying on about what he never said in the first place. CNN is great for the bait and switch. First have the broadcaster smear Trump by recapping what he said incorrectly, then show a clip of him saying something else entirely.

When doesn’t the media put their spin on what he meant which wasn’t even close to what he wrote or said? The media fact checkers are the most hilarious brand of fake newsers, these are probably the same people who conducted the presidential elections polls. Boy, were they ever wrong, huh? Do you still believe the polls about Trumps ratings? Only 26% approval ratings, always at an all time low. :laughing:

15

Actually, i’ve been seeing in the news lately that Trump’s approval ratings are at their highest point since he took office. I believe that to be accurate even though i am in no way inclined to think positive things about Trump. And i believe it because that is the impression i’ve gotten from the news i read/hear. And almost all that news comes to me via “the media”.

So here’s the thing: when people bitch about the “unfair” (they love that word) treatment of Trump by “the media”, they basically only ever point to some example of CNN embarrassing itself, or some since-retracted statement by a liberal-leaning newspaper. First of all, that’s not “the media”, it’s just CNN and some liberal leaning newspaper. The fact is, FOX embarrasses itself all the time too, and it loves Trump. Second of all, Trump invites and often provokes attacks from certain media outlets, not surprisingly, the same networks he and his supporters invariably point to when they talk about “the media”. One of the fundamental pillars of Trump’s rhetoric since as far back as the Republican primaries has been a self-declared war against “the media” (that vaguest of enemies). For instance, within a couple months of taking office, he kicked out half the news networks in the white house press room, including a couple major international new networks. Why wage war on the media? Because one of Trump’s best tactics is to deliberately makes enemies so he can portray himself as a victim when those enemies strike back at him. Hence, anytime the media reports anything negative about him - even when it’s true - those reports become “fake news”. It’s the same tactic he used with his new sanctions against most of the US’s major trading partners. He arbitrarily imposed new taxes on imports, then when they imposed retaliatory sanctions, he cried foul and whined on twitter about how unfair he was treated and how dishonest his enemies are. His supporters eat it up, or at least they eat enough of it to convince themselves that he really IS the hapless victim of media-bullying, and Justin Trudeau really IS a dishonest backstabber. It’s pathetic and scary.

The overall point is this: CNN, NYT and WaPo are not “the media”. Most of the media coverage of Trump is a mixed bag: some people like him, some think he’s evil, some think he’s less-than-ideal but they’re still glad he’s not Hillary, and so on. But regardless of the given slant of any particular media outlet or media personality, Trump invites controversy, he invites attack, he invites the spite of others - inevitably, media coverage in general is going to reflect that controversy, that spite, and those attacks. It doesn’t mean that the media is being unfair, it means the media is doing it’s job.

16

What’s Trump’s all time high approval rating?

The problem with the liberal leaning news you read and hear is that it is never left to stand alone on an actual quote or verbal dialogue given by Trump, no, it’s always the liberal media’s interpretation of what Trump meant, their slant on what is meant changing what was actually meant. It’s a liberal sickness to modify the truth turning it into a lie and then blaming their newly made lie on Trump. I’ve only watched CNN for 20 minutes I think ever (my Stepfather loves CNN and it was watched with him). The entire 20 minutes was a bitchfest about Trump, no other relevant news, tactically spinning lies about Trump as I’ve already described which I pointed out to my Stepfather and he was able to grasp that one example of their bait and switch ploy as it unfolded, but sadly to say he’s obsessed with CNN still, not catching the lies without me there to point them out. I don’t think he wants to be awake. He wants to sleep and have CNN dreams fed to him rather than using his powers to discern reality, the facts from fictions.

How many gushing, positive reports are there about Trump in The Washington Post, New York Times, CBS, NBC, ABC, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, CNN, any liberal media outlet, positive report’s that aren’t begrudging? He has many accomplishments under his belt (getting rid of big government over regulations, reducing taxes, withdrawing US from climate agreement where the USA was the only country paying for their infractions, North Korea summit, slowing number of illegals coming into USA through the backdoor rather than getting into line to immigrate legally, beefing up our military that had fallen into ruin, to name a few), how many can you name from the news you’ve feasted upon?

Oh good, let’s talk tariffs. Do other countries already levy tariffs against American made products? As far as I know, they all do and have forever when we do not tax their countries’ made products in the same manners. Trump aims to trade fairly. Why should we pay every country tariffs on USA products when they pay little to nothing on what they export here in the USA? Calling out unfair trade practices that are in fact occurring is not whining. The media spun it to make his efforts to even the score as if he is a school yard bully, but he’s taking actions to make trade fair. I support fair trade.

Trump’s enemies have never stopped their retaliatory attacks since he took to the campaign trail during the presidential race, after he was elected their attacks became non-stop psychotic affronts, mostly propelled by the over reaching progressive/liberal media outlets who’ve lost even their illusion of being honest. The lib media keeps the lefties angry and crazy mad so they lose their ability to reason, start screaming, becoming violent or start crying hysterically. Brainwashed snowflakes galore.

17

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te01MtCJP0w[/youtube]
A journalist’s take on ways in which the media is being disingenuous and downright deceitful. The vid. doesn’t get going until 9 min. mark. She could have given many more, various, concrete examples in my opinion, but it is a start discussed from one of the horses’ mouths. She’s too liberal for my tastes, but at least she’s no longer completely brainwashed.

18

It just occurs to me how ironic and misguided it is to thank, of all beings, God, for the free press.
Is there any entity, real or fictive, that did more to curb this freedom?

19

Somewhere in the upper 40 percent range, which is a modestly decent rating for a president in their second year. Though it’s decent because the economy is decent at the moment, not because Trump himself is popular.

So you watched CNN one time for 20 minutes, they were bitching about Trump, and that means . . . what? You honestly believe that Trump isn’t a compulsive liar, and it’s all just media spin? He is constantly and incessantly making things up and denying facts in the most public ways, on camera, on twitter, on the record, but it’s still somehow unfair that the media keeps pointing it out? i suppose it’s also unfair that the liberal media covers Trump the same way the right wing media covered Obama, and continues to cover Hillary? My guess is you just don’t care that he’s lying to you because the lies he tells make you feel better than the truth. In any case, your attempt to paint dishonesty as a uniquely “liberal sickness” rings pretty hollow.

None of those are real accomplishments. Maybe slowing the number of immigrants, but doing so in the way he’s doing it costs too much to be worth it. There aren’t many gushing reports about Trump because he basically sucks at being president and most people dislike him, including Republicans, conservatives and moderates in the government, in the media, and in the public at large. The people that actually like him do so primarily because he says things that make them feel personally validated and offers them scapegoats to blame for their problems. The media is one of those scapegoats, alongside immigrants, the so-called “elites”, our trading partners, the EPA, congressional Democrats, and so on.

The US imposes tariffs pretty frequently, just like everyone else, but not large, broad-based tariffs worth hundreds of billions of dollars targeting our closet trade-allies, made in violation of longstanding trade practices, suddenly, unilaterally, without negotiation, and usuing “national security” as an ad hoc justification (. . . because, you know, aluminum imports from Canada are really a dire threat to the welfare of every American). That’s pretty much the opposite of “fair trade”. It’s provocative, ham-fisted, insulting to our allies, and damaging to a lot of major US industries that will now suffer as a result of retaliatory tariffs.

But yeah, it’s unfair how mean the world is to Trump and his followers. Here’s an AR-15 and some fried chicken. God bless America.

Always the victim. Cry me a river, little children.

20

Still under the delusion that most people do not like him, just like they didn’t like him before the election. Ha! :laughing: Trump 2020! More people from the left are crossing over to the right than the other way around. Do you have any facts straight? I forgot, types you support don’t deal in facts or anything that actually matters, only the hate and fascination with fried chicken.

Immigrants? How’s about the part you left out…ILLEGAL immigrants?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mYVi7WHyiU[/youtube]
Now I’ve watched CNN for twenty two minutes! :evilfun:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grD_IINiH9c[/youtube]
Not many people have supported Trump as the polling stories and approval ratings go. Libs still believe that Trump’s support is low, falling for media lies will bite you in 2020 too. =D> Can’t wait!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ-FUptkUNY[/youtube]
I like libs who head butt TVs, might halt their brain damage permanently.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rgYhnmGSks[/youtube]
Trump haters cannot stop…ever!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FzE0IYwWzI[/youtube]
Libs hate the United States of America!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqMmByfKL0U[/youtube]
Progressive madness! Hahaha!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm3SsMI25Ik[/youtube]
LOL to those haters! Trump in 2020! Real US citizens support Trump!