What Most People Never Noticed about the Presidential Debate: About the Guiding Light of Truth
These have been a shaky four years, with the earth seeming to move under our feet. Much of what we’ve taken for granted, no longer holds. Here is a way of looking at events, including the presidential debate, that can show us how to use truth as a guide to help us climb back to stability.
Now that Trump has tested positive for coronavirus, many people may have almost forgotten about the presidential debate a few days ago. But throughout our chaotic news cycles, focus on truth can be a beacon. Facing and recognizing what’s true and what’s false helps us see where we as a nation need to go from here.
It was easy for those of us not in the Right Wing media bubble to see that Trump lied constantly during the debate. What was not so easy for everyone to notice were bits of deception by the moderator Chris Wallace. Yet if we want to have truth as our guiding light to heal our democracy, we need to become proficient at recognizing lies that others don’t even notice.
During the debate, Chris Wallace did some good things. He attempted to persuade Trump to follow the rules, although of course Trump didn’t. And Wallace did clearly acknowledge Trump wasn’t following the rules. Wallace may have done the best he knew how to do, in a train wreck of a situation.
However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Chris Wallace is employed by a highly untrustworthy Murdoch-owned propaganda outlet — one which has the obvious mission of getting Trump and Republicans elected. That outlet constantly lies and fear mongers about Democrats, minorities and mainstream media. We know Wallace is not objective and that he holds a Right Wing bias.
I’m well aware that Wallace lies less often than the average Fox TV host. That doesn’t change this situation. In fact having a token journalist or two, who say a fair number of truths on air, seems to be a Public Relations strategy for Fox. It seems to be succeeding at lulling some of the public into thinking of Fox as an actual news station.
As Lawrence Glickman notes in his tweet below.
Chris Wallace normalizes Trump’s corruption . The rest of us can not afford to do the same, if we want to emerge from the problems being caused by Trump. Wallace apparently sees Trump’s crimes, his gorging at the public trough, and his helping his allies to do the same, as a “free market approach.” I wonder if, when Trump prevented some states from getting Personal Protective Equipment, Wallace would conclude that this was part of the “free market approach” also.
Perhaps appointing DeJoy as Postmaster General to try to destroy the U.S. Postal Service, is in that category also, in Wallace’s eyes.
Fox has shown a clear bias in favor of Republican candidates and officials for many years — glorifying them, telling pretty lies about them, and normalizing crimes committed by them. Fox has fear and hate mongering about Democrats, minorities and mainstream media for years also. Biden should never have accepted a debate sponsored by a TV host from a propaganda station that is dedicated to making sure that Biden and all Democrats lose elections and that Trump and all Republicans win elections.
The lie that Fox is a news station that reports news objectively, is a dangerous lie that far too many Americans believe— even some of the same Democrats who are constantly being attacked by Fox.
If the public can’t tell lies from truth, or constant liars from people who are mostly truth tellers — then the public is out of touch with reality and has given in to the liars. People need to come out of their denial of reality in this area before it totally destroys democracy. It has come close already.
Fox itself does not even pretend to be an objective news station when Fox’s lawyers defend them in court.
However, even though in court Fox says people can’t believe what their TV hosts say, viewers do believe it, and it influences them.
Why do people deny the reality that Fox is a propaganda outlet that sways elections through lying and fear and hate mongering? One reason is that many mainstream media journalists won’t to criticize propaganda outlets. They are also quick to react against criticism of such stations by other journalists.
One reason why this happens is because the field of journalism has been decimated by the rise of social media. Social media now receives much of the advertising money that used to be paid to traditional media. As a result, thousands of journalists have lost their jobs. They don’t want to stay unemployed. Many would work for a disinformation outlet in a heartbeat, if offered the job. So they’re careful to pretend that these prospective employers are are news media.
Also, many journalists have friends working for disinformation outlets. People want to treat their friends with respect. They can’t do that if they are honest about what kind of organization employs their friends.
Another reason why so many people fail to recognize that Fox, Sinclair, OANN, Breitbart, Daily Caller and other similar outlets are propaganda, is that success, wealth and power are worshiped in U.S. culture. Since Fox and the Murdoch family have all three of these, even Democrats often act as if Fox deserves to have a good reputation. Democratic candidates even appear on Fox — even though they are often ridiculed or lied about by Fox hosts later, or even at the time of their appearance.
Elizabeth Warren stands out as one Democratic official who is not in denial of reality.
Those of us who can get out of denial about lies and liars, can help save democracy. Helping friends and acquaintances out of denial, when possible, is beneficial to us all too.
We should be aware though, that people who live in the Right Wing media bubble are usually not reachable.
Talking With Trump Supporters — Don’t
However, people who are not Trumpublicans but who have been lulled into thinking of Fox as a “news” station, are sometimes reachable. It’s worth trying to broach the subject with them.
As experts on fascism tell us, preserving democracy requires being clear about what is true and about who is constantly telling lies. Authoritarians and their media want to deny us the truth. We have to preserve it in spite of them.
Democracy has been weak lately but it can be revitalized. Safeguarding our right to truth will help. Truth and justice can be our guiding lights, to lead us out of the train wreck that began when Trump came into office.
How will this work? There are many avenues that many people are pursuing. Here in the essay below are some actions some of us are taking to fight the lies in which many people in the U.S. are immersed.
In addition, here is a list of books every journalist and every book club in the U.S. should be reading now. The books will help us to become clear about the kinds of behaviors we see in con artists, psychopaths and abusers — and about options for dealing with such behaviors. Our political system rife with corruption now. It’s time to stop being naive and come out of denial about it.
Snakes in Suits
Konnikova’s The Confidence Game
The Sociopath at the Breakfast Table
The Sociopath Next Door
In Sheep’s Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People
Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men.
The last book is about abusive domestic partners. This is relevant because Trump and his administration treat mainstream media — and some other groups of people also — the way an abusive spouse treats their partner. The abusive spouse is dependent on their partner but is also hostile, controlling and insulting.
Mainstream media have been acting like an abused spouse who doesn’t understand what’s happening. They try to empathize with the abuser — to understand him and see events from his point of view. They try to change their own behavior, to get the abuser to change. Maybe they try to be nicer. Maybe they try to be more aggressive. The abused spouse often tries to take all the responsibility for the abuser’s behavior.
This doesn’t work because the abuser isn’t acting abusive because of their partner’s actions. The abuser is abusing because of their own issues — for example, the belief and feeling that they are entitled to act controlling and abusive toward others.
Journalists and all Americans could begin to have more control over our fates than we’ve had in the past, if we educate ourselves about these forces and circumstances that impact us so much. If we will learn to understand the kind of con artistry that pervades our government right now, and how we can effectively deal with it, that will free us to be guided increasingly by the light of truth, and to shape our national future in ways that will work better for all of us.
