The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow, or will it?

 (with apologies to Charles Strouse)

We are bombard with news about this or that evil thing Trump did, broadcast by those individuals and groups who lost power in the 2016 election.  At the same time, we are inundated with the evil conspiracies of the left by those who seek to support the current administration.  Thankfully or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, there seems to be no limit on the amount of hyperbole and hypocrisy that is allowed and encouraged in today’s “post-truth” world where opinion reigns and facts are considered a hindrance to agenda.

These aspects of our politics are not new.  Today they are simply amplified by the ability to communicate instantly with an audience.  In the days before radio, writers, journalists, and opinion(ists) each had to get past an editor before their product was broadcast.  Then it was printed or broadcast by the town crier.  With the advent of radio and television, when news was only a small portion of a broadcast day the scripts were checked and the news readers rehearsed to tell the correct story, usually without a lot of obvious opinion or bias.  The major U.S. networks at least maintained an illusion of impartiality in their reporting.

Then along came cable, satellite, and the internet and the world changed.  With all those channels and all that air-time, something had to fill up all that empty space.  Why not empty thoughts based on feelings rather than facts?  The elders among us can probably remember the three CNN reporters huddled in a hotel in Bagdad broadcasting the nightly bombings just like Edward R. Murrow of WW2 fame.  What gets lost in our memories is the propaganda nature of these reporters.  In the Second World War Murrow’s broadcasts were supported by the English to show America how they were withstanding the onslaught of the German Luftwaffe.  In CNN’s case, they were supported by the Hussein regime in the hopes of showing how they were withstanding the attacks by the coalition and perhaps tell a compelling story of how innocent lives were being lost due to indiscriminate bombings.  It all made for great theater.  Journalism has now become just that – theater.  Reporters aren’t hired for their writing, their analysis, or their grasp of conflicting ideologies, they are hired for their good looks and good hair.

For eight years the religious right and conservatives, in general, complained about the past administration and its apparent discrimination of their rights versus the progressive agenda.  They were told to sit down and color because the left knew what was right and the people had spoken to who the elected as President.  Today we have a clear reversal of fortune, where the radical left and the liberals are complaining about the apparent discrimination of their rights versus a more conservative agenda, the difference?  Well actually there isn’t any, backing those claims up with factual data is unnecessary.  Those who have the microphones have the loudest voices… they get to choose who you want to believe and as long as you are in lockstep with them you can remain comfortable and smug you are on the right side of the political spectrum.

They say there is a pendulum effect in politics.  What is in, will be out soon enough.  But as I watch the pendulum swing I wonder what happens when it passes the horizontal because of the speed of displacement (change)?

Will the sun still come up?