In a Washington Times opinion piece ("Ministry of Public Enlightenment and COVID-19 fact-checking" Tuesday), Kelly Sadler quotes a virologist explaining how pandemic propaganda today mirrors Nazi propaganda: "The … leaders come in and say, ‘You have this pain, and I and I alone can solve it for you’…. The data is irrelevant."
Political propagandists--who now unfortunately seem to include political appointees in government health agencies--should not be able to survive in a society with a free press. Yet they do so because many journalists today are no more than activists with press passes, ideologues who pass along propaganda from their own party and stifle opposition from opposing parties.
What can we do as ordinary citizens? Work harder to find the truth and recognize media bias.
For health news and information, while the CDC and NIH still offer some good information, the current political appointees at their helms answer to a Democrat president, so check out their many vocal critics as well--especially in media that provide space for conservative commentary such as the Times.
Instead of depending solely on media summaries, check out primary sources. For legislative news, read the text of bills at Congress.gov. For political debates, read transcripts or view the original events online instead of media-selected excerpts. For public policy debates, watch events on C-SPAN or attend them in person.
As we do more of our own homework to get to the truth, we can still listen to media but with discretion and discernment, recognizing the agenda behind what we're hearing.
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