The News, Then and Now...

When I was young there was only one-half hour of news daily.

Usually the news began between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.  You could choose CBS, or NBC, or ABC.  And you might get some local news right afterward, if you lived in a big enough town.

Whether you relied on Walter Cronkite, or Brokaw, or Huntley and Brinkley, it didn't really matter.  They all just reported the happenings, straight down the line.

We didn't even know back then there was a "Left" and "Right."  

We always tended to watch Walter Cronkite around where I came from, because he grew up in St. Joseph, MO, right up the road a piece.  And only well after he retired did we come to find out he was such a raging Liberal.  But it didn't leak through to his broadcast.  Unlike now, where screaming harpies infest our airwaves, it was genteel back then.  And much more enjoyable.

He would end every broadcast with, "And that's the way it is."  And that's the way it was...

And it didn't really matter whether you caught the news or not.  If something was truly important, you knew you'd hear about it sooner or later. 

After all, what's a few days more or less?

And you didn't know whether your neighbor was a Democrat or a Republican.  It didn't really matter back then, 'cause they both loved America and could be counted on the defend it.  And you!  Night or day, every day.  

i think it was better then.  You would too if you'd lived through it.

We had three TV channels back then.  And they stopped broadcasting at Midnight.  Thereafter you had a black and white picture of an Indian chief to stare at all night.  It was called a test pattern.  It was accompanied by an infuriating tone.  Sort of a high "C."  Blaring at you.  Not pleasant.

It was like that until that CNN guy figured out how to attach his TV apparatus to a satellite.  That was August 1st, 1980.  We thereafter had 24/7 news, 365.  

And then everything turned to sh*t. 

And not just for us; he wound up marrying Hanoi Jane Fonda, our very own Mata Hari. 

Now we've got dozens of satellites flooding us with more news than we can inculcate, every minute of every hour of the day.  And everybody either knows your political persuasion, or they haven't yet checked out your social media posts.  And most are dumb enough to provide them.  In excruciating detail.

I'd like to say I've never, ever stooped to posting on Twitter.  It's not a part of my life.  Nor should it be a part of yours.  Nor Tik Tok.  Nor Instagram.  They're not important.  And they can negatively influence you.  Don't allow it.  I believe that when the final story is written, what we now call "social media" will prove to have been the death of us.  And of our Country.

It's already started with our children...

You've already heard that I've sworn off news 24/7.  Even the one or two channels that actually inform, without trying to make you a part of their cult.  I've just decided that the Visigoths are past the gate and running things in the Swamp.  And we all know that once you let a camel get his nose under the tent, pretty soon you're gonna' have a camel in your tent.

And the camel is inside the tent.

So I'll just focus on my family and making sure we stay safe.  Safe from the failure of our police to secure us (and of our citizens to support them), which we witness unfold on our streets every day now.  Those who are running things in The Swamp want to remanufacture America into a socialist Utopia.  I don't wish to participate. 

I used to watch the news for a half-hour a day way back when.  Seems like a pretty good plan for right now, don't you think?  Half the Country has no idea what's going on, why not join them?  What you don't know won't hurt you, right?  Ignorance is bliss, right?

RIGHT?