How One Word Matters: It Is Not a “Battle” Or a “Showdown”

A note to everyone in the media. You are doing it all over again. Stop.

Like a lot of other people, I am a multitasker. I have 289 open tabs in the browser I’m writing on right now, and I usually have 4-5 screens within my viewing range. So, I see a lot of the surface of the media sphere, including, for example, my TV screen which almost always has the sound off.

As MSNBC was reporting today on the Trump regime’s unconstitutional, racist, vicious attack on Harvard, I saw numerous chyrons on the allegedly “liberal” network portraying this raw fascism as a “showdown,” a “feud,” a “battle” and so on.

Dear Media: Stop doing this. I’m begging you. This is why we got here.

This is not just “bothsides-ing,” it’s lying. It is rank, false, state-sponsored propaganda, especially when you platform a regime apologist to promote it. This is doing the government’s work to normalize the previously un-normalizable.

If some part of the media can’t resist carrying the water of this authoritarian fascist state, it will cement the fate of America. Nevertheless, it sure seems like they’ve all given up already. If so, it is the death knell of the Republic.

This is like Trump calling Ukraine being attacked by Russia a “feud.” This is not a “showdown” between two equal entities, it’s an American institution being unilaterally torn down for no reason other than bigotry, ignorance and greed. And to instill fear in the hearts of every American, or anyone who would dare to try and come here from another country to learn.

I only went to a few semesters of college myself. It just wasn’t my thing. I have no “dog” in this fight. However, I understand how important these institutions are to the very fabric of American life. I want my grandkids to be able to go to college if they want. And I want the innovation that comes from these places of learning to continue in my country.

To destroy the education system is against the law, against common decency, and against the interest of the American people. It’s intellectual terrorism no different than how Hitler waged his war on knowledge as he created the worst death machine in world history—by brainwashing his own country from childhood up.

Universities in Nazi Germany were strictly controlled by the authorities. Senior university professors were hand-picked Nazis. The subjects that were taught in universities had to fit in to Nazi ideology and few in the universities were prepared to openly defy the regime.

This is exactly what Trump and the broligarchy want in America—independent thought is not to be tolerated.

Words matter, especially the ones you put out in front, or at the top, of your story. Harvard is standing up for itself, and I’m grateful for that. But why should anyone else put themselves at risk when the media will just mischaracterize tyranny as a “showdown” or a “feud”?

The press must do better right now or it will never have the chance again. This is not a “battle.” This is a war. On all of us. Get it right.

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