Paper Thin Pandemic

"Yes, but did you use a reliable source?" If you have ever taught ELA in middle or high school (or required your students to write an essay), then you have said this phrase thousands of times. Weeks dedicated to teaching my students to read reliable news sources and to base their opinions on facts. Hours dedicated to teaching them how to find the author's name and validate their professional standing.

Then my students leave school.

They flood their brains with content that has no fact check, no professional stamp, no .org, .edu, or .gov. News anchors adding their opinions to facts; over-exaggerating with their words to try and pull their listeners to their side, biased photographs, unrelated visuals meant to manipulate their thoughts, news articles on social media with zero reputable information, and possibly worst of all, adults in positions of power discrediting those of us who have dedicated our lives to educating ourselves to help others.

It was the children I feared for; but now that reality has come crashing down on America during this election, I see it is not our youth who were most susceptible to the mental manipulation and sadistic utilization of visuals, but our elders, who never had the teaching, who never had the practice, who never got graded on their ability to sniff out a reputable source; our elders were targeted for the kill shot and they did not miss.

Social media was a great idea... when you needed a verified college email to create an account... Or a verified ANYTHING to have an account. I can make as many emails as I want and make as many accounts as I want. Heck, I can even use cellphone numbers I have access to and create more accounts.

If you want to pay for advertising on Facebook, you can write anything and advertise that too!

I'm saying we have lost our standards. We deserve better from the Americans who actually took the time to become professionals in their field. We deserve social media outlets that care about our mental health and political well-being. We deserve to hear professional opinions from other countries on a regular basis. We deserve access to reality.

"Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues", a hilarious comedy, really should have received more attention for its historical contribution to the fall of journalism. Yes, the film staring Will Ferrell where they ride down a highway with no one driving because cruise control is on, yes the film where they fry and serve bat wings in a fast food restaurant. Yes, I am talking about that film.

Because if you pay attention to the underlying point the film is making, its that we shot ourselves in the head (not the foot) a long time ago when it came to education and politics. We chose excitement over fact, violence over healing, drama over peace, and inevitably, entertainment over reality. We got what we wanted and never stopped to think of the consequences.

And now, our Commander in Chief, who is really just Richard Gere's character in "Chicago", Billy Flynn, who has been giving us the old "Razzle Dazzle" for four years, has finally come to a place where he's got nothing left up his sleeves and no pretty dancers left to distract us.

A man not just willing to discredit professionals publicly, but a man with the audacity to try and rewrite our very history with a selfish old mans pathetic agenda.

That is why both political parties are crashing hard. What monumental fall some of our countrymen must be feeling as the circus tent crashes down and they realize they've been sitting in the audience for years.

If you take to Google and search "How to brainwash a country" or "How to brainwash a nation", you will eventually fall upon the work of Yuri Ben, who breaks down the brainwashing stages into steps.

While I wont waste time reiterating what many people have already dedicated their time to, it is urgent we understand as a whole nation that we have been brainwashed, very meticulously, by a group of people who have no respect for our nation or our democracy.

This pandemic, that was made to seem like a hoax, has progressed beyond the point of saving.

Those of us who have not succumbed to this irrational and yet terrifyingly manipulative scheme are simply wondering what else it could possibly take for them to realize what is going on.

But here we are, a literal pandemic on our hands, and yet it feels so paper thin; it can't possibly be real.

During this eye opening moment in history, we are being called to do something bigger than ourselves. Something that hasn't happened for some time in this country. Enough time, in fact, that we feel unsure of how to go about it.

But if we look to our leaders past, (some so recently past they have fueled our fire) we will make it through this. We have a chance to write a chapter in history that is NOT marked by violence. Where we won before it got too bad. Where we came together before we fell apart.

We can walk out of this circus tent together.