It’s not new, but it is fake!

“Fake news” has become a mantra of Donald Trump, but it is not good. Journalists, those that Trump so readily dismisses, have been fighting the phenomenon for years. Of course, there have been some mistakes and reporters have reported on something that was in fact not true, but this was and is the exception not the rule. It has been social media that has popularized “fake news” and the term itself. It has come from unqualified people reporting or posting information as a fact when in fact it only supports their views or beliefs and it has nothing to do with fact. It does, however, make them feel better about themselves. “Fake news” is the epitome of something that plagues our society – selfishness! People have actually been paid to create it. I heard they were from Mogadishu. M, m, m, … That should tell you something!

Harvey Weinstein has denied all the claims by women against him. Donald Trump has similarly denied any wrong doing even when a tape supports an attitude that leads to exactly what he has been accused of. It was only yesterday that I found out why. I didn’t know our legal system was designed to support “fake news”, but it is. Your best defense is absolute denial. It may have nothing to do with the truth, but to not deny it means you have done it! “Fake news”, legal systems, a lack of truth,…, they are all the same. They are symptomatic of a society gone amuck. A society that has allowed and in the case of the two men mentioned above actually rewarded “fake news” behavior.

#politics #society