In the Fall of 1939, Hitler began World War II with the invasion of Poland. The Soviet Union joined with Hitler’s Nazis. The invasion began on September 1 and was over on October 6, just a little over a month. The shocked citizens of Poland surrendered under the onslaught of Germany’s blitzkrieg. Germany and the Soviets divided and annexed the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The two parties would then turn on each other while the Free World entered the fray and brought it to a conclusion. Millions of innocents would die. The Soviets would gain much and tout the success of what was called their communist ideology.
It seems that for nearly 80 years we have been embroiled in a battle with a misnamed enemy-communism. Sure, there are nations who say they are communists, but they seem to all be authoritarian. They are all dictatorships with either a ruling council of elites or a group of puppets controlled by a strongman, an autocrat. The strongman and/or the ruling elites hold onto power by controlling the media. Very often, the strongman turns on the elites and becomes a despot. They maintain power by controlling the media. So we are actually in a battle to discern the Truth and protect Freedom. But where do we get Truth?
The state-controlled media uses two propaganda techniques to coerce the public. They lie by omission or just lie outright. The public believes the propaganda and tamps down internal dissent with the help of the state authorities. They convince the public to turn on itself. So, the war we are fighting has always been against a form of bureaucratic authoritarianism. Some would say that it is a Marxist invention. But it existed before Marx in the form of monarchies and their courtesans. As Lord Acton said “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
That is the description of Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, as well as the Islamic nations of Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran. The Middle Eastern nations are also authoritarian with a mix of monarchies and Islamic theocracies. But once again the key to power is to control the media. Even true republics and democracies succumb to authoritarian rule when the media takes the easy path—to favor the state over the individual.
Investigative reporting is hard work. Especially when the investigation means questioning the government and its actions. It is much easier to just publish the propaganda. This has happened in Canada, Australia, the UK and now the United States. This became even more apparent with government actions on climate change and the COVID pandemic.
There has been no investigative reporting into the actual impact of human activity on the climate. Anti-fossil fuel propaganda is the predominate narrative and it is wrong. Climate alarmists have been paid by the state and the “renewables” industry. The state is represented internationally by the UN and domestically by the DOE and the EPA. The funding flows to the alarmists as research grants where the only requirement is to demonize the fossil fuel industry. Common sense would say we need affordable and reliable gasoline, natural gas, coal and nuclear, not unreliable and costly solar and wind.
The Pandemic extended authoritarianism in the form of government mandates. There were plenty of opportunities, from social distancing, masks and vaccinations. Take masks and mask mandates for instance. Common sense would say that to stop an airborne virus, a mask would need to have a mesh smaller than the virus. Those were not available when the Pandemic began so people were encouraged to wear cloth masks which provided no protection. But worse yet, children were forced to wear cloth masks which provided little-to-no protection, increased their exposure to other pathogens, interfered with learning and set back the development of social skills. The future effects will be horrendous. The blame can be laid at the feet of an un-elected civil authority called the CDC and another called the Teachers Union. Where was the media on that issue?
Now we are looking at the potential for a nuclear holocaust called World War III, all due to an authoritarian state headed by a despot with dreams of a yesteryear, invading a peaceful democracy. We have seen this madman before and once more, we are watching innocents die for no reason. Do we stand for Freedom or do we stand for nothing. Let’s ask the media. Yeah, they’ll know.