FAKE BRAINS

While watching news coverage of the Inauguration of President Trump, I couldn’t help but notice the media’s continued frustration with his election.

I distinctly remember the distressed, shocked, teary-eyed look on Scott Pelley’s face in November when it became apparent that Trump was likely to win Pennsylvania, and therefore might win the election. The whole atmosphere of their election night reporting abruptly changed .

Initially, the media was beside themselves for so miserably failing to anticipate the Presidential Election outcome. They quickly started blubbering out excuses.

The media then began a diatribe enumerating how incredibly stupid it was for so many Americans to have voted for Donald Trump. After all, it was obvious to the mainstream media that Trump was a terrible person, and that his Presidency would be disastrous on every front. They even went so far as to blame Trump when Hillary’s “extremely careless” implementation of her own email server resulting in it being hacked.

Later they came up with the term ‘Fake News.’ Basically, this is the term they pin on any news that does not come through mainstream media. Note this is a shift beyond ‘fact checking.’ Historically, the mainstream media attacked news stories that did not fit their mold with some “fact checking” they could use to discredit the differing viewpoint. But now, they have expanded that approach. Basically, anything that does not conform to their politically correct view is deemed “fake.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as the media spent most of their inauguration news coverage reiterating everything they can imagine going awry during the next four years. Is it their agenda to undermine the success of a Trump presidency? Is it their goal to foster riotous dissent? Is that how they think a democracy should work? Rather than reporting on what actually happens over the course of time, they fuel fear mongering based on pure negative speculation over what theoretically could happen.

Their political agenda was made especially clear when they brought in a guest to make a big deal out of a small loss in the popular vote (which is an outcome by design in a representative democracy). After the guest finished making his Trump denouncing point, Scott Pelly gave him an appreciative nod and a ‘thumbs up’ (under the false notion the camera shot had finished going to a commercial).

I have come up with the term ‘Fake Brains’ to describe people that purport 'Fake News.' They are so caught up in their political correctness that they are blind to what matters to everybody else. They fail to comprehend why people become irate after being promised Health Care that would be better and more affordable, when in fact their premiums skyrocketed and their benefits vaporized. Nor do they comprehend a zillion other things.

One admonition in this scenario is to “engage brain.” But perhaps there is no brain to engage... Perhaps they only have a “Fake Brain!”