I have long lamented the lack of intellectual curiosity and awareness of those I encounter.  Some of it I attribute to sheer stupidity the other to ignorance, two very different states of mind.  Ignorance is more willful and more deliberate and Social Media has enabled this to become embedded into the psyche of those who simply refuse to read, listen and actually communicate with those they deem "different." 

I am watching an older Seth Myers that was filmed in late October when everyone was assured that Hillary Clinton was to be the first woman President. Surprise!  The subject is fake news and he goes back into the past and discusses the role of Tabloids in the election - as in the National Enquirer and the former Weekly World News Report.  Then the role of paranoid idiots in talk radio that quotes these type of sources with impunity and that includes of course Fox News.

And this last week has brought a tsunami of revelations with regards to fake news from Russia and bots to morons on the street.

This story stood out for many reasons. One the sheer level of audacity that this Austin Texas moron, Eric Tucker.  I am not sure what I like more, the sheer level of assumption and in turn fabrication, the denial and then in turn the quote:  “I’m also a very busy businessman and I don’t have time to fact-check everything that I put out there, especially when I don’t think it’s going out there for wide consumption.”

Yes you are very busy.  My father used to say constantly "I'm a very busy man." All while watching TV or working in the garden, his favorite pastime. Yes that is busy and I still use it as tribute while sitting staring at kids.  Some laugh, well those in Seattle did in Nashville the intellect here is lacking so as a result is humor.  (No I have nothing good to say about the idiocy here and for the first time in my life I find myself no longer trying to explain, justify and excuse children)

But Eric Tucker is not the only one.  There is this group that interpreted, inferred from the Wikileaks

                                               ex·po·sé

and yes that is what Wikileaks became this election season - a tabloid.   I am unsure what the point was other than to do damage as no parallel hack was done to the Trump campaign so it is clear that it was with intent and design to harm the campaign of Ms. Clinton.

And this story about the pizza parlor that was the headquarters of a child human trafficking zone.  At no point did anyone contact authorities or ask any official to investigate said claims, no they threatened and harassed the joint with no substantial evidence to support the allegations.  The bizarre level of vitriol is on some level hilarious and on another distressing.  Maybe these people are not as busy as Eric Tucker.

This morning the BBC is discussing Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook devising a software program that will comply with the censorship demands of China in which to break into that lucrative market. Funny last week he was dismissing Facebook's role in the election process via the spreading of fake news.   I think the BBC finally made the most appropriate analogy that I have heard with regards to the child prodigy, he is akin to Rupert Murdoch.  Yes that Murdoch who was the king of tabloid journalism,  remember hack gate in England a few years ago?

I have no doubt that is what social media has become the de facto news source versus reading actual news articles written by Journalists who research and investigate stories and inform the public.  True that much media has failed to do so and this election the pass they gave to Trump was a contributory role, but like education, news across the country - print and television - has been underfunded and consolidated into bizarre quasi news that seems to just print opinion and news off the wire.  I have read our local paper The Tennessean and it is garbage liner but the Seattle Times was equally dismal, so at least that these two cities have that much in common - shitty journalism.

There are great sources that investigate and report on a myriad of subjects, Pro Publica is one. That might be a great place to make a last minute donation to support independent journalism.  Another is the Guardian UK that also reports on American news stories but also covers international ones that our own cable neglects.   There is the Marshall Project that focuses on the subject of Criminal Justice and with the upcoming Trumpkins and their racist in the closet AG, this might be a good time to investigate that on your own.  And think about subscribing to the New York Times or the Washington Post, they are still there still doing their work while simultaneously being both the target and the praise of Il Douchebag.  Let's hope that he doesn't revive the Alien and Sedition Acts.