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what a perfect song.............for 50% of America......wonder if there's a kiwi equivalent. A great write. Recomment for thinking kiwis.

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Nov 10Liked by Sapphi

💯👍👍👍👏👏👏💯 Totally agree with this, and thanks for reminding me/informing me about the Holyoake media ownership stand - I always wondered how Aotearoa managed to escape the Murdoch media curse so far 🤷

After the US election I sat down & drafted what I thought about it all while it was fresh & I was angry with the US voters, because by watching a summary of the different "takes" on The Daily Show (I get most of my US "news" from the comedy shows now 😁😉) it is quite clear NO-ONE in the US can see clearly because they are too close to it all & have been indoctrinated & biased because of simply living there (a few exceptions, but doesn't that prove the rule, as they say ⁉️) I am one of those who have kept a close watch on various sources of information leading up to the election (as well as comedy shows!) so it's not just a knee-jerk reaction, but crysatalised by the result.

🙋And this is at base my "take" - there has never been one TRUTH in the US because of education - States have control over the curriculum in public schools & non-state schools can teach whatever they like it seems, and crack-pots & far-right wingers can just home school anyway & indoctrinate their kids 24hrs a day. Even in "normal" schools I keep hearing Americans bemoaning that students are not taught civics, so they don't know how the govt is supposed to operate & therefore can't distinguish when they are told mis/disinformation/lies about people & institutions etc.

🤔It used to be ameliorated enough by the fact that most of the public got their information from basically the same source such as national TV news & major newspapers & radio networks, who generally kept facts & opinion separated & clearly delineated, so in other words the TRUTH WAS THE TRUTH WAS THE TRUTH for the bulk of people taking any notice. Yes there were bone-deep racists & misogynists & power-hungry officials elected to serve those bases, but the general population operated on common FACTS about events & decisions.

Enter money into both the media & politics with the people providing the $$ demanding that their "facts" were to be the ones shared most prominently and the "opinions" of those they agreed with should be presented as TRUTH. Had ALL schools taught civics & history & critical thinking, would the outcome be different? I only know that my centre-left sources kept me informed on what was happening on BOTH sides of the spectrum & I could follow up for myself to see if it was true, whereas ordinary folks on the right only got given what their media wanted them to know, (if they bothered paying attention at all) and weren't shown any adverse information (i.e. In interviews, Trump supporters have no idea the crazy stuff he was saying nor how his policies will affect them - thanks again to comedians Jordan Klepper, Jimmy Kimmel et al for interviewing these folks)

😱The day AFTER election day in the US (7th Nov) the Jimmy Kimmel show sent an anonymous interviewer onto the streets to ask random passers-by IF they were going to vote on election day (!), if they knew where their polling place was, sometimes who they would vote for etc. So many people had no idea YESTERDAY WAS ELECTION DAY & lied that they were going to vote... Goes with the item about the Google searches re Joe Biden stepping down & not actually being on the ballot 😱

I don't/can't blame the Democrats too much re "messaging" etc. - if "the public" are this dis-interested in their own democracy, and the right have a strangle-hold on the modern media while legacy media like the New York Times & Washington Post can't/won't call lies lies & unhinged crazy ravings unhinged crazy ravings, and anyone who is paying attention is in a complete bubble as to where they get "news" from, how do they break through? Especially as the whole centre-left has been demonised to the point they are disbelieved about practically anything - including disaster support when people are literally drowning. 🤬😥

So while I mourn for the good people in the US, I agree that in retrospect I shouldn't really be surprised that the tipping point came - I just was optimistic that there was time for a correction before it got this far 🤷 Losing hope in advance is never how you win eh? Is it retrievable as a functioning democracy? There are now generations who are indoctrinated, selfish, racist, non-critical thinkers etc. & now they THINK they have power, so... ⁉️ I had hoped enough of them would have died from COVID to make a difference (not being mean but they chose to be unvaccinated so died at higher rates statistically), but perhaps with the Kennedy nut job cancelling polio & measles vaccinations etc. excess mortality will still be the horrible answer 🤷😥⁉️

P. S/ 👍❤️💙the poem! Perhaps I should resurrect my own endeavours as a personal creative outlet 😻

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Please give the man the CORRECT spelling of his name! He was no Christmas tree- his name was “Holyoake”

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