But now many Americans want truth, unity, and moderation on the airwaves. Those airwaves are owned by the American citizens. It is because our world is filled with mayhem, as peace and calmness are in short supply. What to do? We can all put moderation back into our vocabulary and stop suggesting the word is a negative one.
Sean Hannity of Fox "News" said, 3 days after the Hamas invaded Israel, that Hamas was using American made weapons left over in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal. Jiminy Crickets! Exaggeration and innuendo remain the modus operandi of Fox. They provide the usual incomplete story and half-truth to rile their listeners who buy the soap and the pillows, pay the rent, etc. Now Fox may have to keep their words somewhat sweeter because they are now being sued for many, many millions of dollars as malice creeps into the speech of their punditry. The penalties will continue down that road via the U.S. court system and are becoming quite expensive. Will the resignation of the president of Fox Rupert Murdoch have an impact on Fox? How can it possibly change? They sell dis-information, innuendo, exaggerations and often outright lies and their audience is hooked on all of these concepts. If Fox were to begin a reformation only using truth in their political punditry their addicted viewers have made it clear, that would be unacceptable. It is almost as if the constant degradation of the political opposition is the only reason they get up in the morning.
The problem America faces however is that now we have too much upheaval in the world. The U.S. policy for years has been to assist in diminishing as much chaos as we possibly can. Is this a noble process? We helped create the United Nations, so yes, it is. We are, despite our best efforts, seeing petty ridicule of these attempts by many, when in fact our foreign policy succeeds only if we have a united front in our own country.
Fox News is popular in Russia and is often shown on state-controlled television. Tucker Carlson is by far the most popular American commentator in Russia. It is probably because of his vigorous defense of Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, we have Sean Hannity who is the half-truth pundit achieving so much success in America that he commands a $60 million per year salary. And like so many of his predecessors in the 19th century that were carnival barkers at the circus, (“go to tent #3 to see the fat lady sing”), Mr. Hannity can speak his way into more soap and pillow sales than any other pundit. And as long as his audience keeps buying, he will keep putting aside the American flag and good manners to please those listening.
But now many Americans want truth, unity, and moderation on the airwaves. Those airwaves are owned by the American citizens. It is because our world is filled with mayhem, as peace and calmness are in short supply. What to do? We can all put moderation back into our vocabulary and stop suggesting the word is a negative one.
Let us become a nation that can return to our very beginning and recapture that which projected us forward into a country that can make a difference in our attempt to create a safer world. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to be better and kinder in all aspects of our lives.
Let’s make sure American freedom and liberty survives for another 235 years. And that it is always offered to all countries of the world.
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