What We Have to Do to Fix Our Caustic Divide

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BY FRANK SALVATO

The level of disdain, divide, and dare I say, hatred between the people in the United States today has gone well past ridiculous and entered into the realm of the obscene. Our people, who exist as having more in common than in difference, are being intellectually (and I use that term loosely) manipulated by radical malcontents to the point of civil war. It is exactly what anti-American Fabian Socialists (read: Progressives) want for our Republic.

That may sound like a “do as I say, not as I do,” statement but it is very far from it. Instead, it is a hypothesis based on a comprehensive understanding of the genesis of the modern day Progressive movement in the United States. And while many people lay claim to this comprehensive understanding, truth be told, those claims are most often hollow.

Sadly, we live in a time when people read the headline and – maybe – the first paragraph of an article and honestly believe they know what the subject of the article and its conclusions. The same can be said of books, documentaries and legislation. Just like those who want to sing along with the song without knowing the lyrics, their version of issues is often dramatically incorrect and inaccurate.

In our “my time is more important” culture, most can’t be bothered to fully consume information before they cultivate an opinion. Because of this, just as with precedent law, our understanding of today’s most pressing issues is skewed; our understanding of major issues is based on non-read articles, half-read books and watching trailers for documentaries, all while many claim to understand – fully – the content of those offerings.

Meanwhile, nefarious forces in the information sphere – on both sides of the aisle and in the total of the ratings game news media – are creating false-flag narratives and feeding them to the public knowing full-well that most who consume their propaganda (and yes I am using the word in the worst way possible) will advance it as fact (how many social media memes have you “shared” without checking their factual validity? I know I have fallen prey to this on a few occasions).

Mix into this reality close to two generations who, because of the systemic infusion of a falsely elevated sense of self-esteem, believe that everything thing they believe is fact and everything they say is truth, and we have the perfect prescription for a caustically divided people.

I urge each and every one of you to do a few things so that we can take the information sphere back from the disingenuous and the politically and ideologically opportunistic, and so we – apart from them – can begin to heal our nation. It is the only way that we can actually move forward as a people while averting our societal destruction.

First, we have to realize that we all have more in common with each other than we have in difference. Each of us wants to live in peace and prosperity; to succeed in our endeavors and to be safe while doing so. Each of us would like to safeguard our environment while utilizing the resources we are lucky to possess in order to pursue happiness. And each of us would like to leave the planet a better and more secure place for the generations to come.

The reality of these commonalities requires us to respect not only one another and one another’s rights, but to accept the responsibility that we must listen – and consume with fidelity to accuracy and truth – those opinions others may have that differ from our own. Each of us has a right to hold opinions, but expecting others to respect our opinions requires us to seat them in truth, not propaganda or politically or ideologically skewed false-flag narratives. Just because we would like for something to be true, doesn’t make it so. We have an obligation, as free people, to educate ourselves on the truth before forming opinions and that requires consuming information that may veer away from what we would like to believe.

Understanding all of this we would necessarily have to condemn, in the strongest terms, any act to silence informational speakers, i.e. speakers on college campuses, elected officials at town hall forums, or other knowledgeable public forum speakers who have taken to the podiums to share their views and knowledge on critical issues. We must be brave enough to consume their information and then committed enough to vet it – intellectually, not emotionally, for truth and accuracy.

Conversely, when a speaker, pundit or publication has been routinely proven to knowingly obscure accuracy and/or purposely advance false-narratives, we must shun them with prejudice and drive them from influence, even if it means culling an information source whose information we would like to believe. Truth mandates that intellectual sacrifice.

Additionally, we must fully understand the genesis and methods of those who would seek to destroy our society – and our Republic – for ideological and political reasons. Make no mistake, there are factions at work in the United States today, at the highest levels of the information sphere and the government, who do not have our country’s best interests as a priority; factions that have been slowly encroaching on our freedoms for over one-hundred years.

To understand these nefarious forces we must make the time – not take the time, but make the time – to read a few books:

  • Fabian Freeway by Rose L. Martin – This book explains, in accurate detail, the genesis of the Fabian Socialist movement, their goals and the blueprint by which they seek to achieve those goals.
  • Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky – With a forward that inclines to Lucifer as the “first revolutionary,” this is the Progressive’s tactical handbook.
  • Boss by Mike Royko – This explains the Chicago-Daley-Democrat machine and its political structure, which Progressives have coopted into a national community organizing model.
  • Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg – This book chronicles how Progressives developed from the Fabian Freeway to their current form in the United States today.

Honorable mentions to this list include: American Progressivism: A Reader by R.J. Pestritto & William J. Atto; and The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns by Sasha Issenberg.

Lastly, and I am certainly not inferring that this is all that needs to be accomplished, we have to be extremely skeptical of the modern day information sphere. As former-President Barack Obama famously (or infamously) said, “Words matter.” That means that we have to take great caution and care when we listen to the usual suspect media and political talking heads. We have to consume and evaluate the words they use, not the words we want to hear or the meaning we think they are conveying.

A perfect example of this comes in the recent flap of President Trump’s use of the word “wiretap” when talking about the compromised privacy some in his campaign experienced during the 2016 General Elections. Because Mr. Trump used the word “wiretap” – which, in literal terms, means “to obtain (information, evidence, etc.) by tapping telephone or telegraph wires” – the disingenuous were able to refute the claims, causing an inaccurate news media frenzy, even though other methods of attaining information clandestinely were proved to have been employed, both legally and in a questionable form. The word “wiretap” facilitated the skewing of the truth and, therefore, contributed to the skewed basis for many opinions that have served to continue the caustic divide in our country.

We must return to the time when each of us held dear the responsibility to affect truth, honesty, and accuracy, and we must – must – demand the same of those who are honored with the public trust to inform and educate the American people. We do not exist in that state today.

To paraphrase a quote by Euripides, which is also attributed to Galilieo in another form, we, the American people must – must – “question everything; and accept nothing.” Once we start ferreting out the disinformation sources and disingenuous purveyors of propaganda, we will find that the overwhelming majority of Americans have a great deal more in common than in divide. Only then will we heal as a nation. Only then will we – We the People – begin to take on the task of returning government from the political factions to the American people.

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