Mainstream news outlets and non-traditional news sites show Americans are living in parallel universes. They meet at the nexus of events but veer off onto one side or the other. Same facts different beliefs and those of us that pay attention to both sides are very confused.
I read the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All three have reporting that show Joe Biden as a shoe-in to win the Presidency. Columnists in all three papers are already measuring the drapes for the Oval Office. But if you watch a Trump rally or watch YouTubers and listen to podcasters that are covering your average person they swear the media is once again wrong and Trump will pull off a landslide win. One thing I don’t do is regularly watch TV news. It’s bad for your health. I see it in drips and drabs but I refuse to watch entire TV news programs as they have perfected the art of persuasion with their use of video. It’s propaganda at its finest.
Coverage of COVID-19 on TV news and in print covers a massive increase in confirmed cases and areas of the country that are reporting an increase in hospitalizations. But, if you pay attention to scientists and doctors on Twitter, Podcasts, and YouTube they show how while confirmed cases have spiked the death rate is practically non-existent. They also point to news in scientific publications that say the current testing method is flawed and producing positive results on people who are absolutely not capable of spreading the virus. The PCR tests amplify the RNA sample exponentially each cycle that is run and we’re running US tests at 45 cycles when it is recommended to run them no more than 30 to 35 cycles.
So, it may be true that confirmed cases are up. It may also be true in some places hospitalizations are up. But it is also true that deaths from COVID-19 are declining. Are we being subjected to fear porn from media outlets that want Trump removed from office?
On the subject of social distancing and masks. There are a lot of opinions by doctors and scientists on both sides of the issue. Common sense tells me that masks probably work to protect people that might be vulnerable and that masks are largely pointless for everyone else. If you are carrying the virus but are asymptomatic, which it appears the case for the vast majority of people infected, you are not likely to spread the virus because you’re not coughing, sneezing, or otherwise spewing spittle into the air. That is the approach Sweden took with the virus and they’re living life normally now while the rest of the world is still in hysteria. Perhaps that’s why they’re ignored on TV and in print.
Election season is a hell of a mess. I was entertained by it in 2016. I didn’t vote for Trump or Clinton then. I voted for the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. But this time around there is so much concentrated hatred towards one man. Hatred makes people irrational and they seem willing to sacrifice our protected liberties just to get him removed.
I don’t know what to think. This time around I voted for Trump. Mostly for economic reasons and my abhorrence of the Democratic Party’s push for globalism and the Green New Deal. I also believe Joe Biden is being abused by his party. They’re using his life-long desire to be President for their own ends. They don’t care about his cognitive decline and are moving heaven and earth to push him across the finish line.
I hope Trump wins.