“A house divided against itself cannot stand.
-Abraham Lincoln
I’ve had company visiting, so haven’t had time to write a blog post or follow the news closely, but here’s a short catch-up post. I did catch FOX News a bit in the past week and some news online. Frankly, the narrative FOX News and a lot of the right-wing media ecosystem have amplified is as filled with selling victimhood and wild conspiracy theories as the BLM movement, where every situation involving a black person and the police is ramped up to incite anger, rage and most of all sell victimhood.
As I’ve seen videos and watched news hyping that somehow the blue collar white people in East Palestine, OH are being abandoned, because they’re Trump supporters, well, it’s the same type of political messaging that BLM sells to black people. I watched a FOX News reporter talk to a resident of East Palestine, OH the other day to hype the “nothing is being done” and “these people have been abandoned” storyline. This resident was telling the reporter about her fears about her well water and how no one has come around to offer help.
Frankly, this ticked me off, because the truth is from the beginning the local news affiliates for that area and at all the press briefings they’ve been plastering the media with phone numbers to call, if you have concerns. The authorities have been urging residents to get their private wells tested and they have repeated these numbers to call and schedule for free testing. They also have pick-up locations for free bottled water to drink until the well water is tested. I am not angry at the resident, who said no one has come to her door to offer help, I was angry at the FOX News reporter, who didn’t tell this lady that free well testing is available and the number to call for help. – or put it on the FOX News screen during this primetime report. In fact, the FOX News coverage I’ve seen has not had these phone numbers up, like with Tucker or Hannity or Ingraham or Jesse Waters, as they hyped the conspiracy theories and the line about how this situation is like Chernobyl. It’s not even close to Chernobyl. It is serious, because toxic chemical spills are hazardous and there were several different dangerous chemicals released in this large train derailment.
However, in regards to this resident, if I was really concerned about a hazardous situation in my neighborhood, I would be gathering as much information as I could and I certainly would have been calling these hotline numbers, calling my elected officials and been trying to proactively get information and deal with the situation. I wouldn’t be sitting there saying – no one came to my door to help me. THIS is the American learned helplessness attitude that has frustrated me for years and it exists all across America – and it cuts across racial, ethnic and socio-economic lines.
Of course, the Biden administration, especially the Dept. of Transportation, has done a terrible job handling this situation, especially their public relations. Certainly, there are valid concerns with decisions that were made, but to say no one did anything isn’t true. 70 different state and federal agencies were on the ground working to deal with this emergency from the beginning. And the thing is often the people ranting about how nothing was done, have no specific actions they can list of what they need or what can be done in a hazardous waste situation and they have no interest in listening to what has been done or can be done. It’s easier to go with this right-wing conspiracy theory that the federal government isn’t helping East Palestine, because they’re Trump supporters and to ramp up the fear and hysteria.
In other news, I saw Tucker Carlson announce some protest march against supporting Ukraine that will be held in Washington DC. And I saw Marjorie Taylor Greene is hyping that America needs a divorce – splitting our country into red and blue America again. This brainstorm circulated in the right-wing pundit circles about a year ago. The people on the right selling this are as divisive and destructive to keeping the United States of America united, as the far-left radicals, who want to destroy America. Selling this “national divorce” idea is appalling and the people selling it aren’t patriotic heroes or doing anything that will help America remain a strong and prosperous nation – or even a functioning one. These people selling this are about tearing America down – PERIOD. People who sell that kind of idea aren’t going to be leaders to make America great or prosperous – they’re wrecking balls.
That’s my two-cents for today. I will write a blog post of some prepping things I learned following this OH derailment, the emergency evacuation and aftermath.
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