Trump conspiracies are bunk!

Our democracy is consumed by misinformation

An echo opinion letter published in the Star Press, a Muncie, Indiana newspaper. 

https://www.thestarpress.com/story/opinion/readers/2021/01/23/muncie-letters-editor-jan-24/4238815001/

As a young boy back in the '70s, I remember standing in line at the grocery store with mom and noticing The National Enquirer, The Globe and other scandalous magazines. No words were exchanged but I remember Mom rolling her eyes as we both snickered. It’s surreal in today’s world where the internet and social media has become a dirt rag.

It amazes me otherwise intelligent people in every aspect of their lives believing misinformation that is obvious bunk. Maybe it’s just where we are in our evolutionary journey that our brains tend to gravitate toward stories rather than cold hard facts. 

We know that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West or that gravity is real and the Earth is not flat. There are no alternative facts to those conclusions.

Companies now exist to perpetuate false information for profit and manipulate public policy. The statement that former president Trump was an excellent businessman prior to the 2016, election after six bankruptcies (soon to be seven) is an example. Or that Bill and Hilary Clinton were running a pizza parlor pedophilia ring or that a doctor's report from Britain claiming Immunizations cause autism. 

It seems to me that our democracy is being consumed by misinformation and social media and how it all washes out is to be seen.

Our founders could never envision such threatening things to our republic; and if they could, I’m almost sure their mouths would be hanging open, in a state of (disappointing) bewilderment.

Rich Stahl  Muncie, Indiana