Social Media and Crackpot News- The dumbing of America

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Remember the old movies where "press" people and journalists were seen as heroes who sought the truth? These protagonists risked danger, personal backlash and a legion of bad guys (now in Trumpese "bad hombres") to get the truth out. Now journalists and media are the target of the current administration. I am talking about the real media and not the fungus patch of "reporters" that have shown up on social media, cable and some radio stations. As "anti-social" as this sounds, I dislike social media to begin with. Real people have begun interacting mostly (and some exclusively) on Facebook and other social media sites. Seems picking up a phone, writing a letter (or an email) or good heavens talking one on one while looking a person in the eye, has become "not cool" and even shunned. I foresee a field day for psychiatrists and psychologists when people are so insecure with "interpersonal skills" when we become a nation of non-communicators. Add to this that Youtube, Facebook and others have become a safe harbor for anyone to profess themselves a "reporter" and issue news (aka "fake news") by posting a video with a grainy inset of their face and pirated photos and text from legitimate news sources. Who are these basement dwellers with a video camera? I will tell you who they are not. They are NOT legitimate sources of news yet this pap is "shared", "tweeted" and disseminated over and over. Add foreign governments who pay people to post comments and proliferate this "brain garbage". The social medialites eat this stuff up and use it for real life decisions....health, parenting and even more frightening...voting. This voracious appetite for this "news" has risen to even the highest levels of our government. Back to the old days...this sort of nonsense like conspiracy theories, alien babies and pets that eat Plutonium were the sort of stories we laughed at, while standing in line at the grocery store and perusing the "tabloids" with clearly "fake news" headlines. Sadly now, this same material is touted as "facts" (or alternative facts), proliferated from the basement news "channels" and seemingly relied on by those who govern us, has become the norm. That noble reporter with the fedora and note pad, or that wavy haired, high heeled news seeker is nowonly a character in old movies. Truth is the casualty and when truth leaves the void created is soon filled with ignorance, innuendo and an increasingly uniformed public. When you think about how we got here...just know we did it to ourselves.