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Hate Makes You Stupid [1]

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Date: 2025-06-02

The sixth of the seven journalistic canons reads that a journalist should not slander the subject of their endeavors. My feeling is that the media has overinterpreted that canon to the point where they are missing the obvious. With some publications banning the word “liar" about President Trump, it has led us into another banned media word when discussing a politician: "stupid.” Sure, some might say Trump is feigning stupidity to distract from his evil, but it is not the job of the press to so tie itself up in knots to maintain fairness that the country is being held in a basement of despair with its hands bound, with the press gagged. This weekend, the current President of the United States said his predecessor was secretly assassinated and replaced by a clone. Saturday night, Mr. Trump, reposted a moronic claim on Truth Social that former President Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with clones or robots, without comment or admonishment. I am sure Jake Tapper is working on the book.

Hate Makes You Stupid…

The annihilation of the Native Americans and the enslavement of black Africans were not the result of hate but greed. What followed was hate once both groups demanded freedom and equity. What was initially the avarice of white men to gain land and cultivate it for free, morphed into irrational hatred once that practice was looked upon as a moral affront. Progressively, America tried to right its great wrongs through ethical indignation and slow improvement toward equity. The hatred persisted with the shameful actions, such as those in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898, to name a few. It has long been believed that one cannot legislate morality, but groups of Americans dragged the haters along by exposing their stupidity with the law. America finds itself in its current situation of mindless lunacy because hate continues to make us stupid.

When officer Derek Chauvin stared into a camera and slowly squeezed the life out of George Floyd, with his knee to his neck, America’s disgust, if even for a short time, broke the bonds of stupidity. Of course, conservatism is now championing the release of former officer Chauvin. The hatred of the current Republican party toward anyone who is not white, a Christian, or straight has made the press normalize a president who is clearly an evil liar, stupid, or even worse, both. If the American media would treat Mr. Trump like the world's press and move on from its obsession to normalize him, in pursuit of fairness and bravely assume their role as the de facto fourth branch of government, we would all be a lot better off.

The media traveling to the local diner to give Trump supporters a platform does not bother me. Once the inanity of both the questions and answers becomes the subject of extended, thoughtful commentary and think pieces, that is when the press goes off the rails. The President saying he would end the Russian-Ukrainian war in a day or end inflation on day one could easily have been called a lie, and did not warrant serious discussion. The press will hover around Mr. Trump’s stupid assertion that former President Biden was assassinated in 2020 and replaced by a clone. When asked about the former President’s cancer diagnosis, “[Biden’s] been a sort of moderate person over his lifetime,” Trump, 78, said. “Not a smart person, but a somewhat vicious person, I will say. The president continued, “If you feel sorry for him, don't feel so sorry, because he's vicious.”

This administration is disappearing people from the street like a third-world dictatorship, threatening to take food out of the mouths of children, and making fun of people who fear death if they lose their healthcare. Keeping a clear head and prioritizing the serious over the hate that makes us stupid is crucial to save America from the fall of democracy.

Your Vote is Still Your Voice

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