The President of the U.S. recently stated on national TV that his spending bills have now "saved or created" 150,000 jobs. During such events, the Office of the President pre-selects which reporters get called upon, and which don't. No reporter had the moxie to challenge the accuracy of this statement or question its source.
Voters like my Parents watch this stuff and actually believe it-- validating their great vote and choice since the man is already a hero for saving or creating so many jobs. Only if you are more informed do you understand that the number is entirely fabricated, and the White House will not release the formula they use to make up the number. But my Parents, who vote, never consider that and walk around feeling good about "150,000 jobs."
Then, the President, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, and the President of Mexico *all* say on TV that "90% of weapons seized from drug cartels came from the U.S." They distort the truth, which is that the Mexican army doesn't even try to trace the mountains of AK-47's from China and Russia. Out of a huge pile of seized weapons they cherry pick *only* U.S. manufacturer's weapons to be traced. Gosh! The U.S. manufactured weapons were made in America!
My Parents, who vote, watch this, believe it, and start thinking that we need to surrender our rights to help those poor people in Mexico. I try to engage with them but they insist that I'm nuts since the President, the Sec. of State, and the Prez of Mexico would certainly never all lie about the same thing. Like anyone, they have outlets to get more information, but they usually only watch MSNBC.
My question is this: Given a steady diet of false information, coupled with the loss of an independent press to hold one party accountable, have we lost our representative form of government?
Voters like my Parents watch this stuff and actually believe it-- validating their great vote and choice since the man is already a hero for saving or creating so many jobs. Only if you are more informed do you understand that the number is entirely fabricated, and the White House will not release the formula they use to make up the number. But my Parents, who vote, never consider that and walk around feeling good about "150,000 jobs."
Then, the President, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, and the President of Mexico *all* say on TV that "90% of weapons seized from drug cartels came from the U.S." They distort the truth, which is that the Mexican army doesn't even try to trace the mountains of AK-47's from China and Russia. Out of a huge pile of seized weapons they cherry pick *only* U.S. manufacturer's weapons to be traced. Gosh! The U.S. manufactured weapons were made in America!
My Parents, who vote, watch this, believe it, and start thinking that we need to surrender our rights to help those poor people in Mexico. I try to engage with them but they insist that I'm nuts since the President, the Sec. of State, and the Prez of Mexico would certainly never all lie about the same thing. Like anyone, they have outlets to get more information, but they usually only watch MSNBC.
My question is this: Given a steady diet of false information, coupled with the loss of an independent press to hold one party accountable, have we lost our representative form of government?
