Unifying Against Deception: Activating for Democracy in the Face of Election Threats
by Annette Dion
We are a nation awash in propaganda and slanted news.
Does this remind you of any other countries?
What is happening to American democracy is that the populace has become victim to an insidious and invisible war crime. Our enemies infiltrate and influence the minds of American citizens via the mainstream news and social media. They are masters of cyberspace. THIS is factual.
American corporate-run media makes more money through sensationalism and falsity-ridden storytelling. What the mainstream media has been engaging in more and more, helps, and is influenced by our enemies, like Russia and China.
There is a term for this. It is called “psychological warfare”. It literally produces Americans fighting their fellow Americans, having passionate, anger-ridden disagreements about what the actual real truth is. Putin has a phrase for this highly effective tactic. It is “DIVIDE, and conquer.” Divide the United States of America. For that is the key to taking down this country.
The enemies’ most potent weapon; their “match-made-in-heaven;” is American gluttony and greed. Yes, you heard that right. American greed (i.e. corporate-owned media) increasingly and now incessantly and exceedingly promoting propaganda that is somehow passed off as the true news. The mainstream media is in lockstep and complicit in getting the under-informed to tune in, and get all hyped up and looking for more untrue news that, unbeknownst to most, drags the unsuspecting viewer and listener down into a more inaccurate and more confusing rabbit hole.
This is intentional. This IS corporate greed, intent on getting us feeling scared and afraid to do anything; a perfect recipe for keeping us feeling despair, hopelessness and helplessness. This is the perfect fascist recipe. Just add in the final ingredient; authoritarianism, where only a “strong” domineering “leader” can alone “fix it.”
More news and sensationalism produce more eyeballs and more ad sales, for emotionalism and exaggeration drives the psyche to look for more. If you doubt this at all, think about the scenario of being at home and seeing flashing red lights and hearing fire trucks right in your neighborhood. Who among us is really able to just sit there without at least a desire to investigate further? When we see and hear alarm, we head for finding out more. The human brain is wired this way.
The difference is that if you want to find out more, you go and find out more, from where it is happening on the ground. But his approach is not what we get anymore from the media.
Which brings me to this. For example:
Last night as I putted around doing mundane tasks, I had YouTube videos playing in the background. It is set on “play next” video. I was only half-listening. All of a sudden, I started hearing about what a horrid criminal Michael Cohen is. Why? It was confessed that he stole money from Trump.
I stopped. Wait, this trial is not about that, I thought to myself. This trial is about election interference. This trial is about the fact that Trump wanted the American populace to not know the dark truth about him, so he paid off Stormy Daniels in the amount of $130,000 thru Michael Cohen to hide the story of who he actually IS.
Trump intentionally interfered with our democracy; a system that requires a presidential candidate to tell the ACTUAL TRUTH to we-the-people. The media slanted it to sound like the entire thing had turned around and that Donald Trump was the victim of a robbery?
All well and good, but that would be the subject of a separate trial. Can we just stay on point here?
And who, you might ask, was the source of this slanted media I inadvertently heard? If I had been paying closer attention to what was playing, I would have gone and shut it off sooner.
I was not surprised. It was NBC news. Let me just note here that 20 years ago I would have been surprised.
At that moment I quickly recalled that NBC did not cover Biden’s very important speech prior to the 2020 election in which he leveled with all of us and emphatically let us know that our democracy is on the line; that Donald Trump and his cohorts are touting an authoritarian form of government; one in which we would lose all our rights, not the least of which is our right to vote.
ABC did not cover that pivotal, urgent and important speech, either.
I recalled that years ago these were a couple of networks that were fairly reliable. For that matter, many years ago FOX news was also. They would tell us the news. Nowadays they might as well be saying, “the-news-with-a-propagandist-slant.” Perhaps they could use that slogan. At least THAT would be more honest.
In a society where we bear witness to intelligent, competent, informed, reflective people being demonized by right-wing extremists we must all stand at attention and LOOK at what is happening. New stories have been distorted, bit by bit, piece by piece, like a slow dripping faucet over the past several years. We have to search for the truth, as it isn’t actually right in front of us where it used to reliably be. We must use our natural gifts of discernment. You know that “gut feeling” you have felt and heard a lot about? That’s a start.
Personally, when faced with confusion, I have learned to ask myself questions. Perhaps these, penned by author Byron Katie many years ago may be helpful.
Question 1: Is it true?
Question 2: Can you absolutely know it's true?
Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought?
Question 4: Who would you be without the thought?
Turn the thought around: re-examine it.
It is up to US to be counters to all of the lying. To all of the sinister, greed-driven deception that mainstream media has fallen into.
Donald Trump has lied more times than anyone is now able to count. The mainstream news USED to have a Pinocchio meter. “How many pinocchios did that politician score?” they would ask.
Oh, and don’t think he named his failing social media company “TRUTH Social” for nothing.
It is the epitome of gaslighting.
Yesterday he referenced that we must be a “Unified Reich.”
Wake up and smell the coffee, America. It is time for us to call it out, not just once, not just twice, but as many times as they lie to us. Look up the feedback contact email information for these formerly-known-as-news media outlets. Write to them, en masse.
Activate. Support pro-democracy channels on YouTube and pro-democracy podcasts and news outlets. Support democracy. Get the word out.
ACTIVATE. ACTIVATE. ACTIVATE.
The 2024 election is one that the party of fascism, or as Liz Cheney put it, “Putin Republicans” have already said they would not accept the results of if Donald Trump loses.
Tell your friends. It is time to use our brains now, not later.
Each Tuesday at 7p ET / 4p PT, our group meets online for a 20-minute guided meditation for a healed America. I invite you to join us. Email grassrootsofdemocracy@gmail.com to express your interest and to receive the Zoom information.
Also, please take a moment and subscribe to the Grassroots Of Democracy Substack group. It only takes a sec, and it helps get the message out.
What about you? What stories can you think of that mainstream media has distorted that made your hair stand-on-end? Feel free to leave me a comment!
Hi Annette,
Very well stated about our main line media being controlled by the lost republicans and perhaps maybe even Putin's Russia. I watched Nicole Wallace's program for the first hour today and she also mentioned about that $30,000.00 Michael Cohen that the loser's defense team brought up. All of their panelists agreed , Michael Cohen is not on trial, the loser is, and I would consider that $30,000.00 a bonus that Michael should have received for all his troubles. I agree that we cannot become complacent about what the maga repubs are trying to do to our democracy. One more thing, do you remember when corporations received covid money to keep employees on the payroll. I don't think that really happened and they only raised their prices and we all got screwed. Keep the faith everyone and God Bless!!
John M