Blackmoor Vituperative

One of my oldest and dearest friends has been poisoned by the hate propaganda that has become so prevalent since Rush Limbaugh popularized it back in the 1980s. I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to pull him back to reality. He eventually un-“friend”-ed me. I think that friendship is over: the poison has consumed him.

I have another friend who thinks that “free speech” should be protected regardless of how hateful or ridiculously false it is. “Outlawing expression and a marketplace of ideas doesn’t protect people.” I said that the last couple of decades has conclusively proven him wrong: giving overt lies and vicious hatred the same legal protection as we give facts and legitimate journalism has had a direct impact on our society, turning what was once a fringe movement into one of the two dominant political parties in the USA. He eventually un-“friend”-ed me, too. That friendship might be salvaged, some day.

“Nothing on this page is real”: How lies become truth in online America