Judy Woodruff of the PBS Newshour has stepped down from the anchor post and has started an exploration of how Americans became so divided. The two parties have separated into tribes and are ever more unable to see each other as fellow humans trying just to figure things out on their way to their graves.
I think a big part of the distrust, anger, and fear of each other is good old fashioned money. Roger Ailes, former boss of Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh, former talk show luminary, saw that the way to enormous wealth and success was to find a niche audience, tell them that the only way to know the Truth was to Tune In to their shows (and buy air mattresses and My Pillows). They told their audience that other news sources were lying to them so they had to listen to them exclusively. All this was was simply promotional advertising. But their audience started to believe their nonsensical hype. They may even have believed it (a little) themselves. It was just building a media audience. The more people who tuned in the more money they made.
So, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with profit?
Well, making a profit by making a better mousetrap is capitalism. But making money by attacking and eventually destroying the voting public’s ability to know the news ends up destroying democracy, because we end up with two visions of the news, two visions of the truth. We live in a world where one political tribe believes in a world of “alternative facts”, as the Trump spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway, so in-artfully exposed herself and the Trump hype machine.
Caesar knew the way to rule was to Divide and Conquer. Tragically, in today’s world, the new approach is to Divide and Profit. (And Russia jumps in to increase and inflame the Divide, as they are out to Divide and Conquer)
Eventually the actual truth will out, but so much human damage and tragedy happens along the way.
Just a reminder, Fox News was just exposed as promoting Trump’s ridiculous Big Lie that the election was stolen from him for one reason only - so that they would not lose audience to Right Wing propaganda competition. None of the Fox News Big Lie hypesters believed the big lie. It was Just Business.
January 6th violence and death was the result, a host of “Election Deniers” are taking over the Republican Party, and the next violent coup attempt is being planned.
Divide and Profit - and everybody else? WATCH OUT!
