Friday, January 22, 2021

On American Unity

 Greetings friends, Happy January 22, 2021.

With all the talk about unity I have been hearing lately in the aftermath of insurrection and Treason I think there are some precursors to unity that must happen to make it possible. Unity with diametrically opposed ideas and bad actors is impossible! Unity is like that lofty goal of a “more perfect Union” that we seem to have been backing away from, guided by those on the conservative side over the last 40 or 50 years. What I say here is still evolving, a work in progress in my mind newly sparked by current events and a new Administration trying to calm things down, as they must. My opinions and beliefs may change or be more fully fleshed out over time but I think they are worth saying so I will dive right in…

We ought to, actually MUST, start by setting up a new Fairness Doctrine for The FCC that ends the dissemination of un-factual, falsely divisive and spun bits of fact used to deceive presented as "news". We must dismantle the false-news machine! Only facts, actual events and verifiable truth should be called “News”. Politics should once again require equal time given to opposing views with all parties AND limited to truth and factual information. Bad mouthing and empty accusations against another or pending legislation must end.  “Facts” used should be readily verifiable from credible sources only. Everything else should be clearly labeled and presented as non verifiable opinion, speculation, hypothetical discussion or etc. Violators should be heavily fined, lose their broadcast license or license to own broadcasting facilities depending on the severity of untruth or malicious intent.

If facts and investigation by a broadcaster discovers and reveals flaws or scandals in the government or big business, there may not repercussions for being the whistle-blower, and the DOJ (vetted of traitors or partisan folks like those put there by 45 or others) needs to open an investigation immediately, even if it involves a seated president or office holders. Indictments may be served.

Schools must be held accountable to teach factual and a complete and unbiased spectrum of knowledge, civics and history. There is no excuse for teaching whitewashed bullshit!

We have seen the results of 40s years of anything goes "news”, and have people today so steeped in it that they can't bear to hear the truth or understand right from wrong. Imagine being 40 to 50 years old, having only heard Fox News and right-wing talk shows all your life and believing it all to be true and having so little education you can't grasp what is actual fact. That IS what we have in America today and why there are so many more than one would expect. The military and police forces are full of them today! Unity will never happen under these conditions! Becoming complacent is NOT unity!

We have a very big job to show these people real truth, historical facts and science using the Scientific Method. We must teach critical thinking and logic again and get those folks to accept it as normal. At this point in time, I don’t really expect this to be possible because many Americans are so selfish and feel entitled to dominate others they see as less than or different. The symbols of defeated enemies – Nazis and The Confederacy, to name a couple prominent ones – need to be criminalized. Showing them publicly other than historical re-enactments and in museums should be considered Treason. It looks to me like making nice and not cracking down on them has allowed this resurgence of those ideals and helped foment insurrection and Treason. Freedom of speech is one thing, but acting out in violence and treachery as a result of prevocational speech should not be tolerated, especially in high level leaders, office holders and public figures.

It is a huge task, but if we ever want tangible unity, it has to be done! And it has to be consistent and constant. We have to be careful not to become oppressive or authoritarian in reaction to appalling events, but we can’t just let things go for the sake of “making nice”. Justice must be served for all. We must counter with truth and honest intent in law and jurisprudence as well as in education and social action.

I for one refuse to be united or even complacent with traitors and unrepentant fascists, confederates or supremacists, racists, violent nationalists and etc. Or wrongly educated, wrongly indoctrinated fools for that matter. Embracing the willful ignorance as promoted by the GOP today and by large corporations backing them has created so many mindless minions is NOT unity! It is insanity and will bring the end of Democracy Even if we have an otherwise ideal Administration. And while this new one is a landmark one worth celebrating, I don’t think we will go far enough or be firm enough to solve the underlying problems.  The insurrection planners and their backers remain at large are not going away, and now many of them with the temporary silencing of Parler have learned to use encrypted communications to make further plans, and keep on undermining Democracy. They may not be making so much noise, but they will be back and we must put systems in place rapidly to be ready for them. We must never underestimate the power and incipience of ignorance, especially when held in thrall by sociopaths and haters.

Unity might be able to meet that this threat, but we are far from ready for unity. IMHO.