Editor, Register-Mail: Amid the brutal rapes and indiscriminate killing of thousands, atrocities, cluster-bombs decimating humans and infrastructure, on April 8 a rocket, with “FOR THE CHILDREN” painted on its side, killed several dozen people at a busy train station in Eastern Ukraine.
Amid that backdrop, support for Putin and his war, is soaring in Russia; Putin’s approval rating at 83 percent. How can that be? It is the propaganda which is conveyed to the Russian people, who have a 72 percent “negative view” of America. We have similar propaganda machines here. As misinformation and disinformation abound in all forms of media, it falls to us individually, to care enough about our extraordinary country and about revitalizing and maintaining our democracy; to continue educating ourselves and sorting important facts from dangerous fictions; to root out the truth about issues and candidates for offices across our nation, so we’re intentionally aware of what’s at stake. Case in point: amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 63 oppositional House Republicans, on April 5, voted against a “non-binding resolution” reaffirming our commitment to NATO and its principles.
I’ve read that it can take as few as 21 to 30 days to be deprogrammed from propaganda sources we’ve chosen to follow. Whether it’s FOX, OAN, or QAnon-sources, we CAN choose differently. I used to be a CNN-junkie two decades ago, then I switched to MSNBC, which is a cutting-edge news source. I urge you all to get MSNBC, watch it for a month, and see for yourselves what you believe. We have the choice to regress, to ban books and subjects we don’t like, blame and discard good teachers, push LGBTQ people back into their closets, enforce bounties on abortion-seekers, let the hungry and homeless starve in our streets, to support Q-nonsense and elect under-educated Congress members to legislate regressive laws for our citizenry. OR, we can choose to elect progressive candidates, who will support more humane values, a much-needed, modern paradigm in education; more tools for helping humanity, strengthening our police departments by funding addiction and mental health advocates to deal more effectively with struggling communities; to do away with the filibuster so Congress can pass a prescription-drug plan for everyone, to pass a federal voting-rights bill that surpasses the repressive election laws pushed through some GOP-run state legislatures; to promote the rule of law while fortifying personal freedoms. We can choose to believe in the hope & promise of America, and work toward creating “a more perfect union.” Onward, upward; as my old FDR poster says, “FORWARD!” — Trish Forsyth Voss, Galesburg
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: LETTER: U.S. has propaganda machines as does Russia
