The biggest non-secret in U.S. politics is the astonishingly successful right-wing propaganda machine which, for decades, has skewed the way Americans think. Consider the situation at this moment: Few discussions about the 2018 mid-terms don't include at least some reference to 'the hated Pelosi' or 'Democrats in disarray'. The huge message center created by wealthy right-wingers has known from the beginning that an effective message is one that is uniformly adopted by all corners of their media empire, and thrown out repeatedly in all directions like the promotion of an upcoming movie. The inevitable result of such universal repetition is that the theme quickly finds its way into mainstream media. Their success (with the assistance of their congressional stooges) with the two words 'Hillary's emails' defies all description. During the 2016 presidential campaign it became impossible for reporters to focus on any Trump outrage without feeling obliged to add, 'but Hillary's emails.' Moral equivalency became perverse.
Sometimes I think back to the 1960 presidential campaign (which I personally witnessed) when Nixon's people tried to stir up resentment and fear of Kennedy's Catholic religion. Kennedy's first allegiance would be to the pope, they said. In the end it didn't carry the day, but I have no doubt that - had their current propaganda machine been in place - Nixon would have won, and hatred of Catholics would have blossomed among the weak-brained, just as white nationalism is blossoming today. Turning American against American has become one of their major tools for winning elections, although they also have no moral objection to voter suppression and help from Russia or Israel.
As a purely logical exercise, one can understand their motives. Their help-the-rich agenda is never going to win them many voters, so they went in search of emotional issues which would make people vote against their own best interests. Subjects like racism, religion, guns, and abortion were turned over to right-wing media the way generals pass down marching orders, and the uniform repetition process - some might call it brainwashing - began.
But recognizing why it is being done and where we stand today is only the beginning. It's like diagnosing the reason for your computer problem; just recognizing it doesn't fix it. We can reintroduce the fairness doctrine, or prohibit monopolistic ownership of blocks of media outlets, and thereby possibly neutralize the imbalance in some traditional media sources. But what about the internet? The loss of net neutrality opened the door for further misuse and monopolizing by the wealthy, who already had an advantage because - simply put - their money can fund so many websites making so much noise that their influence far exceeds what it would be on a level playing field. There are currently almost no automatic checks on honesty and accuracy on the internet, and if the 2016 election is used as a measure, a huge portion of the voting population is susceptible to malicious messaging.
I submit, however, that if internet distribution of copyrighted material can be legally challenged and websites held responsible, then there must be an equally effective way to challenge lies, conspiracy theories, and hate mongering. Something like the periodically successful boycotts of advertisers who support the websites. But whatever method is used, it's time to start applying it. Imbalances don't often correct themselves - nature has taught us that. Nature has also taught us that when a correction does take place, it is often the result of a disaster. We have a disaster now, a pack of wealthy people without scruples whose obsession for ever more wealth and power has caused them to turn us against each other They have most of the money, but we are well supplied with thinkers, and it's time those thinkers turned their attention to ways to neutralize a hate apparatus that never should have been allowed to exist in the first place.