I have had the great privilege in my life to grow up in the time that I have. I escaped both world wars, missed the "wonders" of the 50's, passed the craziness of the 60's, barely skipped over the disco age, and arrive just before the arrival of parachute pants. (I thank God I wasn't old enough to think that was cool) But I have learned in my 21 years, that the past gives us a clear view of where we are headed. We must try not the make the same mistakes, lest we pay for them all over again.
I can say to you with great and underlining certainty that I will never go ore than 25 over the speed limit because of the financial burden it put on the the last time. Going deeper into this I can look at things that family has done and learn from them to. I will never get myself addicted to drugs, or even try them, because I have seen the hurt they have caused through my mother. Going even deeper I can look at things that others I do not even know have done and learn from them. I will never in a political office try to sell a senate seat. The point is, we look to the past and the grave mistakes of others to help us make choices of right and wrong. It is a quality that every should use to better themselves.
A few nights ago I was watching fox news. I watch it late at night from time to time to see what crazy stories they are telling for my own amusement. I then noticed a pattern in the stories. It seemed every time they did a piece on the president or members of the cabinet they used very odd photos of these people. I really ignored it until today when I started thinking about why they would do that. Then I thought about what I had learned about the 1940's and WWII. I remembered in my 11th grade history class the teacher referring to posters that the nazi's put out of Jewish people. These were cartoons and photos and all sorts of different things, but they had one thing in common. Through a single picture they categorized these people as evil. They used photos to make the Jewish people look sinister and angry. This influenced the German people a great bit. Similar tactics have been used in many wars, enhancing features of faces and backgrounds to manipulate the viewers to think these people were devious and needed to be shunned or destroyed.
This same tactic is being used on President Obama. I know it is intentional; it is impossible to deny. I'm not trying to make up a conspiracy theory or say that any news organization is out to commit this sort of injustice, but it is true. If you image-google president Obama, or if you watch any newscast or any press conference it is almost impossible to find a moment for him to look evil. You really have to search for pictures of this sort. So it is therefore improbable for this to be a coincidence.
So the question is why? The answer is simple: they are trying to make people afraid. This is slight and people all too often don't see it; it is almost a subliminal message. No one thinks about it, but the pictures and images linger days after without a conscious thought. This, in my opinion, is 'media malpractice'. This is a deliberate attempt to demonize a man, our president. These people are staging a mass uproar over a man they have not given a chance. I say this, not because of the pictures, but because of what I have seen all over the internet. There are websites, groups, chatrooms, and people all around this country that want this man impeached. What is causing this? Why do they fear so much? They fear, because people are instilling fear in them.
I want this to stop, but I know it wont. I want people to open their eyes, but I know they wont. We won the battle when we elected him, but I fear we are losing the war to the extreme right who seem to think the only way to regain power is to instill fear among the people again. How do we fight this war?
It honestly scares me. I just wish there was something we could do to stop the fear mongering.