Mr. President, how can you sleep?
I am waiting for somebody in the media to finally find their spine and, during one of the infomercials that pass for a press briefing these days, asks the president: “Sir, how can you expect the media to be non-confrontational when all you do is stand up there and lie? How can you expect the media to not be skeptical of your words when you ignore science and nearly everything you say regarding this pandemic is corrected by the doctors and researchers? How can you ask for kinship with the media when you are constantly berating it, belittling it, making false claims against it?
Mr. President, how can you sleep?
The bottom line here is that the United States is in crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1918 H1N1flu virus that took one-third of the world’s population, including 675,000 lives here.
Now is not the time to get into a spitting contest.
Now is not the time to bitch and moan about the impeachment trial.
Now is not the time to carry out personal vendettas and sack those who you believe have aggrieved you.
Now is not the time for arrogance and any anger we have should be channeled into efforts to save lives, not perpetuate petty feuds.
I’ve had some conversations with friends while employing the safest of social-distancing practices – the good old Facebook chat system – that bring it all into sharp focus.
One friend, an apologist for the president and strident conservative, for the most part, was taking shots at the media for being so unbalanced, claiming that the reason it has not rallied around the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 is because: “I highly suspect the media WOULD, in fact, downplay, if not bury this news.”
No, the reason the media has not gotten behind the idea is because, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: “We still need to do the definitive studies to determine whether any intervention, not just this one, is truly safe and effective.” None of the research done in China or the United States has shown hydroxychloroquine to be 100 percent effective.
My friend also bristled about his perception of an imbalance in media reporting.
But, as another friend pointed out in an unrelated conversation, the public does not understand the difference between news reporting and opinion pieces and analysis.
Add in the fact that folks like Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity are paid to be entertainers, are not trained news people and, well you can see the problem. They are in the media, to be sure, but they are not reporters and never will be and their words should not be lumped in with legitimate news reporting. They are not paid to be impartial observers, they are paid to entertain a certain segment of the viewing audience. They are paid to be loved, they are paid to be hated. And, they are paid very, very well.
The men and women in the trenches, who are out there digging up news, sifting through the endless press briefings, searching for truth, are doing a fair and credible job and if you can’t see that, you have no interest in the truth.
As my other friend, a former newsie himself pointed out, never during his career was he directed to take a particular position in his reporting. And, for what it’s worth, as somebody who has been stringing words together for longer than many of you have been alive, I can attest that there is no great media conspiracy or payoff. If that were true, I’d live in a much larger house and drive a much better car. As far as fake news?
Yeah, there’s a plethora of it out there, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what is true and what isn’t. And, as far as hoaxes are concerned, until the middle of March the president was calling COVID-19 a hoax.
My editor and I recently discussed the COVID-19 overload, how it is dominating the news, our opinion pieces, our lives, how we have become overwhelmed by it.
But, the thing is, COVID-19 is what we are all talking about. It has taken over and disrupted our lives. It is the story of the century. How can we not discuss it? Believe me, I would rather not write about COVID-19. I would also rather not write about the president or the great cultural and political chasm that has divided us. But, that is where we are at this very moment. And, it would be irresponsible to ignore, I think, because unless we have those discussions, we have no hope of repairing the damage already done.
The fruits of what opinion writers and analysts do for a living equate to opening doors for debate and discussion. Those of us who are blessed with a platform to make public commentary are hopeful, though, that our thoughts provoke the kind of full and productive conversation that could, perhaps, find some solutions or expose others to another view that might temper their thoughts.
We are not, trust me, the enemy.
We didn’t go looking for a fight, only the truth, which seems to be overlooked on all sides at the moment.
So, some truths, inconvenient or otherwise?
We cannot blame the president for COVID-19. But, we can blame him for mishandling it and not providing leadership at a time when the nation is in peril.
We cannot blame the mainstream media for misleading the public. But, we can blame the posers and pretenders whose only purpose is to prop up one particular political or cultural ideology over another and we can blame those ignorant enough to flatly accept those distortions as fact simply because they find them agreeable or too lazy to do their homework.
The writers who share this platform come from vastly different perspectives, and that is good. And, I guarantee that every one of them has deep conviction for the words they share. We all realize that we are, in all probability, not going to change a Trump supporter into a Bernie guy or gal and that’s OK. I would hate to have that kind of influence because I don’t want that kind of responsibility and neither do my colleagues.
But, we do want you to think. We do want to offer honest opinions and analysis. We seek truth.
And, I think we are all disappointed that there has been little, if any, accountability and unforgivably irresponsible actions from this administration.
Along those lines, I would like to see the president follow some of his own advice.
It would be most effective if he practiced social distancing at his daily rants that swing from media bashing to turning into infomercials for corporate CEOs who are simply doing the right thing. Staying in the White House residency wing and allowing the men and women of science to do their job would be a good start while he learns how to provide a little leadership.
I would really like to see him show some faith in science and intellect rather than his gut feelings about drugs that may or may not work.
I would like to see him put his personal animosities on the shelf and work towards the good of the nation.
And, particularly, I would really like to see him start wearing a facemask.
Preferably one made of duct tape applied firmly across his mouth.
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