The Information Age

Recently, Fox News broadcast a Bill O’Reilly segment which featured an on-air interview with a supposed ex-Swedish military man and security expert named Nils Bildt. He proceeded to allege that large-scale immigration into Sweden had significantly increased general crime, rapes, and terrorist incidents. Within 24 hours, I believe, President Donald Trump was citing “what happened in Sweden last night” in support of his views on restricting immigration here in the United States.

The problem was that Nils Bildt was not who he claimed to be. Bildt (not even his real name) was actually an emigrant from Sweden with no Swedish military or security experience, a guy who had once attempted to run for public office in Sweden on an ultra conservative platform…and was rejected at the polls. He was just another talking head on Fox News, a set-up guy for conservative honk O’Reilly, who wanted more ammo to bash immigration, thereby promoting the Trump cause.

The President has thousands of FBI, CIA, NSA and State Department employees at his disposal to provide him with actual facts and analysis of current events. Instead of using this information, Mr. Trump tweets reactions to fake news that is provided to him by the Fox network and other dubious sources…and makes a fool of himself and our country. He has repeatedly done something like this ever since taking office in January, and doesn’t seem embarrassed when called on it.

As John Lilly once remarked, “In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.” Mr. Trump wants certain things to be true in order to validate his actions and campaign themes, and he apparently leaps to conclusions whenever favorable rumors, allegations, or gossip come his way. Our President definitely isn’t from Missouri, the “Show Me” state; there isn’t an ounce of skepticism in his body, at least when Fox News is broadcasting. That is because what he wants to become true has… become true…in his mind.

Sadly, our populist President is probably a reflection of a societal malaise when it comes to separating fact from fiction. It’s a problem that may, ultimately, be the death of us.

We are daily bombarded with information on the radio and television, at the movies, through newspapers and outdoor billboards, on our computers, through our smartphones, etc. Virtually all of it is focused on selling us a product or point of view. How do we sort through all of it to glean the nuggets of truth? And, what is truth?

What ever happened to “If it seems too good to be true, it is.”, or “For every problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”, or “Don’t believe everything you read.” In other words, news stories need to pass the smell test. Just because a story may reinforce one of your beliefs does not make the story factual (i.e. real, instead of phony).

Back in simpler times, we would read something in the Los Angeles Times or listen to Walter Cronkite broadcast The CBS Evening News and feel like we were fairly well-informed about what was happening in the world. You could flip the channel at the dinner hour and, pretty much, hear the same story on NBC and ABC, with different reporters. Similarly, the lead stories in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, particularly on breaking national or international news, would be the same. We trusted the information, to a great degree, because reputable journalists and news organizations stood behind the “news” that they were reporting. Clearinghouses such as the Associated Press and United Press International provided news reporting to smaller newspapers. There were professional standards and ethics; reputations mattered. Editorial comment, i.e. opinion about newsworthy events, was clearly identified as such in the Op-Ed Section of the newspaper. On television, you might tune to 60 Minutes to get facts mixed with opinion. But, you knew what you were getting.

The Information Age (of computers, really) has made the world smaller and has provided all of us with so much more data at our disposal. The news “hour” that we experienced as kids and young adults has morphed into 24-hour news, with entire networks (like CNN and Fox News) broadcasting continuously, typically repeating, on the hour, the same breaking stories with additional details. Since there is so much airtime to fill, typically that space is filled with so-called “experts” offering their take on the breaking news. This leads the viewer to the dilemma of separating actual facts from the opinions of the host and his guests.

Detecting real news is made harder because nowadays anyone can (seemingly) become a journalist by publishing a blog, like this one. The blogger’s “facts” or opinions provided are thrown out into the Internet, without editorial scrutiny, to compete with legitimately-derived actual news and facts. This week, President Trump relied on supposed facts supplied by the charlatan Nils Bildt, and made a fool out of himself.

One can check the Internet for “trending” stories. The fact that 800,000 people may have viewed a post is impressive, but routine, nowadays. More importantly, though, is that the posted story may be incorrect, a hoax, or planted propaganda. It could be totally bogus, but will have been watched and passed along by hundreds of thousands of people, thereby giving it some sort of “approval” as news. And, of course, the social media is designed to enable participants to weigh-in on the posting, adding individual thoughts and opinions to the string. This is how “urban legends” begin, and how “everyone knows that…” wisdom comes into play…that can be diametrically opposed to the actual truth. The problem with the Internet is that one doesn’t really know who they’re listening to, or dealing with, on the other end, and what his motivations might be.

It now appears fairly certain that the Trump campaign for President was the beneficiary of fake news planted on the Internet by the Russians, with the intent to destabilize elections in the United States. Specifically, to discourage people from voting for Hillary Clinton or discourage them from voting at all. This gave an advantage to the very motivated Trump voting blocs. (An investigation is now underway in D.C. to get to the bottom of this story, but that is unlikely, as President Trump and the G.O.P.-controlled Congress don’t want to lift the lid off of this scandal. The mainstream press, on the other hand, smells blood in the water.)

It used to be that tabloid news (i.e. “yellow journalism”, sensational news, “scandal sheets”) was recognized as a diversion, entertainment, juicy gossip, etc., but certainly not legitimate news. There used to be a few of these tabloids at the grocery store, sporting salacious details about movie stars’ private lives, a miraculous image of Jesus on a burnt tortilla, Nazis in hiding, JFK’s real killer, etc. It was eyebrow-raising entertainment, fun to read and laugh at, and, for the most part, not mean-spirited. Since no reputable news organization had yet sniffed at these “scoops”, the accuracy and veracity of the stories was generally derided. Comedian Jay Leno used to do a once-a-week bit about these amazing stories, reminding viewers that the facts of the story (about some guy who had been abducted and probed by aliens, for example) had been “checked, double-checked, and then checked again”. For sure.

I’ve noticed that such sensational news is becoming more mainstream in our lives. At my local market, one must go through a guantlet of tabloid headlines in order to pay for your groceries.

This morning, by the time I had reached the checker, I had learned that (1) Hillary Clinton has plead guilty to a number of unspecified crimes; (2) Marilyn Monroe was carrying JFK’s unborn child when she died; (3) there is an incurable bug sweeping the world; (4) and, ex-President Obama is sabotaging President Trump’s administration. At least, it seems like I learned those things. Of course, in previous times at the grocery store, courtesy of these “newspapers”, I had learned that (1) Abraham Lincoln was a woman; (2) President Obama once appointed a Martian ambassador; (3) Hillary Clinton had gained 103 pounds; (4) a mini mermaid was found in a tuna sandwich; (5) Elvis is still alive; and, (6) some lucky woman married Bigfoot. It’s hard to believe, but if it’s written, it must be true, right?

There are tabloid TV shows now, like E!, that provide 24/7 gossip about celebrities. And, of course, a “celebrity” is anyone that the Internet is talking about, even if it is a deranged nutcase who’s on trial for murdering Black parishioners while in a church bible study. The murderer’s philosophy and crackpot ideas, as reprehensible as they are, get disseminated on the Net. It’s news, I guess, but is it truth?

I can imagine President Trump, sitting on the crapper at 5 a.m. in the morning, reading the National Enquirer, and then tweeting out a new policy directive based upon a tabloid story he had just read…and believed.

Recall that the Leader of the Free World began his Presidential campaign a number of years ago by proclaiming himself a born-again Birther (i.e. convinced that President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen because he was born in Kenya). The birther movement was a creation of tabloid news (I forget now whether it was the National Enquirer, The Sun, The Globe, The National Examiner, or another one which came up with the “facts”), and then Fox News, radio personality Rush Limbaugh, and other political propagandists ran with the story. Trump championed the Birther Movement for several years, all the way into his Presidential campaign, despite the fact that Mr. Obama’s citizenship was proven beyond a doubt by a Hawaiian birth certificate. Trump believed the phony story because he wanted to believe it, it gave him traction with conservative and Bible Belt voters, support from the KKK, and, so, it had to be true. Except, that it wasn’t.

The new Administration is prone to running to the tune of alternative facts. President Trump’s key policy advisor is a guy named Steven Bannon, who is a right-wing conspiracy theorist of the first stripe. Many of the goofy ideas that the President is now championing come courtesy of Mr. Bannon (or, should we call him Rasputin?). It appears that Bannon will see some tabloid news that fits his agenda, pass it along to Trump, and then will come another bizarre Tweet or White House press release…that totally baffles everyone and pisses off Americans and allies, alike. The President will come off like a fool, he will be roundly and deservedly criticized and lampooned, and then he will lash out at his critics…the mainstream media…for having the nerve to call him out. “They are the Opposition!”, he will say. “They’re putting out fake news!”

How should we, as Americans, react to this Presidential bullshit? Our leader wants us to take whatever swill he is peddling, and pay no attention to outside observers who, correctly, point out that the Emperor wears no clothes.

I think I agree with Albert Einstein, a smarter cookie than Donald Trump, who said, “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” So, I will question things the President says, if I detect a fishy odor.

Also, I side with former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who observed that “The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.” Lame ideas should always be countered with better ideas based upon evidence.

And, finally, I’m with Voltaire, who warned that “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” The American public needs to be wary of this President and his Rasputin, who seem very nonchalant about provoking American citizens, our allies and enemies, alike. It would be easy to stumble into a civil war or WWIII…and, who can predict the outcome? We need to listen carefully to the message emanating from Washington D.C.

It is up to us to call “Bullshit!” on this President, when appropriate.  I support everyone in the media who has the guts to do so, and the whistleblowers within the government who leak the truth to said journalists.

We’re all in this together, and we’re all patriots, because we want facts, not fiction, to be the basis for American policy.