The Discussion: Part 2
As Long As Conflict Pays, It Won't End
The more time that passes since the hijacking of the US Presidential election on November 5th 2020, the more likely it is that the crime will go unpunished. Just look at some major past crimes that went unexplained and unpunished:
September 11, 2001: The disappearance of $4.7 TRILLION dollars of taxpayers money, the evidence of which went up in smoke when Building No. 7 collapsed at the World Trade Center complex. It was the Great Train Robbery on steroids.
October 2020: Just before the last Presidential campaign debate between Joe Biden and then President Donald Trump, 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter declaring their belief that emails allegedly sent by Hunter Biden, suggesting his involvement in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian and Russian energy interests, was "most likely" a Russian disinformation effort to affect the upcoming election. Only years later were the emails corroborated but none of the signatories were ever punished for "interfering" in an election process.
March 2014: Malaysian Airline passenger flight MH370 with 227 passengers onboard simply vanished into thin air. The traditional means of investigating airline crashes were all stymied: No black box. GPS and radar trails were corrupted. Traffic controller conversations were shut down at critical moments. Pooof! Gone. Years later some small pieces of the plane were found drifted ashore thousands of miles away from where authorities theorized the plane ran out of fuel or crashed into the vast Indian Ocean. Only later still did we discover that the passenger manifest included 20 highly valued, extremely brilliant nuclear physicists returning to China from a advanced intelligence conference. Some theorize the scientists on board were preparing to reveal advanced alien technology and some "unknown interests" didn't want that to happen.
January 6th, 2021: Many attendees at the Capitol Hill demonstrations in Washington DC were later arrested and imprisoned for various charges including Trespassing On Federal Property, Disorderly Conduct, Interfering with Official Government Business, and Intimidating Government Officials In Performance of Official Duties. Most were denied Habeas Corpus, locked up without counsel, had their medications denied, and some were beaten while in custody. None were charged with weapons violations, kidnapping or false imprisonment, commensurate with an insurrection. One defendent committed suicide while in custody. The officials involved should be prosecuted for grievous violations of the constitution, but not one has faced any action by local jurisdiction or the District of Columbia authorities.
August 2021: The abandonment of $85 BILLION of essentially brand new US Military weapons upon the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The Biden administration said it was "just too hard to figure out the logistics" of relocating them. They shrugged their collective shoulders and refused to accept the loss as anything other than "unfortunate".
August 2022: Federal Agents search Donald Trumps private residence at Mira Lago in Palm Beach Florida,looking for classified documents that might threaten national security. Ordered by the Special Investigator Jack Smith, using illegitimate claims by the National Archives and Records Administration that Trump had refused to give them certain 'classified' records, they were really looking for ways to pin a felony on him so he would be disqualified to run again.Trump claimed he had invited NARA to look at what he held and to take whatever records they deemed proper. They refused. Later Biden was found to have stashed similar "Top Secret" documents in his garage, but no charges were ever brought because the appointed Special Counsel determined Joe was "too old and in a state of mental decline": On July 15, 2024, Judge Cannon dismissed Trump's case, ruling that Jack Smith's appointment as Special Counsel Investigator had been unconstitutional.
Early 2023: A Chinese spy balloon passed over dozens of highly classified military installations while carrying, as President Joe Biden put it, "two railroad cars of equivalent spy equipment." Though our military shot it down, we were told it never sent any info whatsoever back to China. No one ever explained how our intrepid air defense system let that happen or why China would waste their time and money to accomplish absolutely nothing.
In July 2023, the US Secret Service found a plastic bag of cocaine in the heavily traveled vestibule of the West Wing of the White House. Further investigation found no evidence that could be linked to anyone, anywhere. It was declared "unexplainable" and a none newsworthy event. Even though Hunter Biden admittedly had a history of cocaine addiction, the news media wondered "Why would anyone care about such a thing?"
December, 2024: A massive drone invasion over New Jersey that frightened thousands of people who thought the cluster was an alien invasion. Unidentified flying machines jetted around with remarkable speed, intimidating authorities on the ground and pilots in the air. This assault lasted for weeks with no attribution, no accountability and no investigation to exposed the source. Within days the media explained it away as some hobbyists having fun experimenting with expensive toys (even though one of the drones that crashed was as big as an SUV).
The point is, if we as a society really want to lower the level of confrontation, return to a set of civilized ground rules for discussions, for debates and journalistic investigations, it means we have to be willing to explore new, unprecedented sources, forms of evidence and allow all perspectives to be heard without rancor and retribution. We mustn't let the pressure of immediate gratification outweigh the desire and need for the truth.
Is that even possible in todays environment of anxiety and lack of trust?
Polls show previously highly trusted institutions (law enforcement, healthcare, education, and financial) have lost much of their credibility. People don't know who to trust anymore, especially with the recent advancements in AI and Advanced Digital Technologies in video, you can't believe your own eyes anymore. Major news outlets like CNN have been forced by the courts to issue retractions because of false accusations, modified context and in another case CBS paid damages of over $30M for false reporting and slander. President Trump recently filed a $1.5B suit against CBS because they misreported and edited their Kamala Harris interview to protect her reputation and slander his.
So I wonder, is there an answer to unraveling this incredibly complex, tangled mess of cultural anger and confusion? Of media malfeasance and online disinformation?
The answer has to start with journalism. It is the shepherd of our culture in the great Court of Public Opinion. The information industry has to set the rules of the courtroom, maintain decorum and purge the ideological activists from the courthouse. We can’t allow important discussion to be thrown to the wolves for a feeding frenzy.
Maybe we need to consider some form of certification or degree to better qualify participants on major media platforms. Of course that assumes academia will abandon it's leftist bias…not likely in the short run.
Which is where we find ourselves today: Our attempts to filter ideas, to control avenues of information across social and traditional media platforms (TV, print, and academic explorations) have devolved due to the shear volume of vehicles of exchange. The information is wider in scope and coming in at such incredible speeds, it is easy to exploit for personal or professional gain. And there are vast fortunes to be made exploiting that window of opportunity.
Our culture is being swept away by a tsunami of information and intelligence, overwhelming our senses, our minds and our communities. Like the aftermath of a tsunami, we must simply wait for the waters to recede, for the information to be vetted, to be sorted, and to allow nature to find a new waterline. Then we can begin to filter the remaining data, to categorize the relevancy and to spark new discussions on what it all means.
But how can we keep everyone from jumping the shark? We should treat those that exploit their advantage as looters in the ruins.
After an earthquake, some governments shoot looters. But they are much easier to spot than reporters who think they are righteously reporting "news" when in fact they are concocting headlines so they can collect social media royalties. Or worse yet, when international conglomerate-owned media companies purposely withhold information because it affects their bottom line or their stock prices.
The general public are the victims of Fake News. Some information tsunami victims will never recover, too damaged to ever feel normal or involved in what was once their comfort zone. Some will need extra time to get resettled, to brush off the parasites clinging to their preconceptions. But the pressures of recovery, of adjusting to new demands, new frontiers of social advancement, will eventually drive everyone towards a necessary resolution. I hope…
Just like negotiating the end to war, all parties will eventually see the advantages of peace. Unfortunately, experience tells us that doesn't happen until the human cost is unbearable.