The new fascists

In the information age we have become desensitized to sex, violence, and the foul actions of criminals, almost to the point of complete apathy. With radio shock jocks and television shock hosts, very few things are taboo these days. We grew into this state slowly, starting with the televising of the war in Vietnam, and steadily on through the subsequent decades.

Just in my Thirty-Nine years I went from watching cigarette commercials to reality tv and all points in between. Some of these programs contributed positively to society, others did not. I have managed to keep it in perspective for the most part: despite the coyote and road runner cartoons I knew that an anvil on the head was deadly.

At times television even inspired me to reach for goals, which I had thought impossible before. When I first saw Muhammad Ali speak before a fight, I was in a state of shock. Here was a guy that said anything that came into his mind seemingly without any fear. Little did I know then that others would try and capitalize on that;" Hate me all you want as long as you watch me" style. Everyone from talk show guests to radio disc jockeys would soon have a few of these extremists.

Once the shock and awe style invaded political commentary, I thought well, it was just a matter of time, and accepted it. However some have taken this style and gone too far. A few of these have been able to make vast fortunes and fame using blatant lies and misquoted garbage. They have been able to sell millions of their books, and win awards for documentaries that despite having perhaps an idea of the truth, somehow manage to completely avoid it. Even when shown the truth alongside their own blatant lie, they manage to find a way to either; blame the other person for a mistake, misprint, or incompetence, or keep shouting over them until they can find a way to back out gracefully. Some have built whole careers on attacking the homeless, and drug addicted; all the while they themselves are drug-addicts. They attack homosexuals on one hand while on the other have same sex relations in private.

One went so far as to attack the widows of 9/11; claiming they have enjoyed the deaths of their husbands and profited from it. That same person also claimed John Edwards had a bumper sticker that read "ask me about my dead son". When John Edward's wife Elizabeth tried to ask that person to stop using the death of her son to attack them, they went into a scripted style of talking over her and trying to turn what she said into something all together different. I've even seen this person claim Jews were imperfect Christians, needing to be perfected by a Christian religion like hers of course.

If this is what debate has become I fear for our future. When substance is forsaken for shock value, and truth becomes a matter of if it will sell, we are truly lost. "If it bleeds it leads" has taken over political commentary, as well as the tabloids. When we have no place to turn for truth, we will accept whatever we are given as gospel. And then where will it end? When we are robotic sheep, all going towards the slaughter without questioning our fate, will we then realize the value of truth?

Entertainers are now frightened of being called a traitor, anti-American, communist, or even a socialist for expressing their views on our government, yet there is no cry of outrage, no protests or assembling of the masses. Artists are one of the purest forms of truth a society can have, and ours are now quieted from fear of their own government.

There has been a frightening trend in our society, a trend that has allowed so many to take no responsibility whatsoever for their own actions. This has allowed murderers to go free, politicians to lie to the people, and doctors to turn health care into a cash cow. It has corrupted religious leaders, business men, and the media to the point we can no longer accept what they say as truth. Instead if we want the truth, we must find as many sources as we can and then filter the information to remove any impurities. Gone are the days of accepting your local news paper's account of something as being truthful.

I could go on forever with this and still not scratch the surface. So I will end by saying; I hope for my children's sake we can start to take responsibility for ourselves soon, before truth, justice and liberty have become ideas we only read about. As the great Benjamin Franklin once wrote: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."