The Real Deal

This flower is the real deal. It’s not fake or even filtered. I took the picture in my front yard a couple years ago. Beautiful purple iris does make me question how something could be so perfect in nature. I don’t care how many folks might scream, FAKE! This flower is the real deal.

I’m proud of the media these days for not allowing a name-calling bully to frighten them off. I’ve watched closely in the past months to see how the press might be swayed or put off by the claims. What I’ve observed is that some organizations try hard on some days to not give unnecessary attention to the whining wizard behind the tweet curtain. After all, he feeds off the attention, good or bad, like a spoiled child. So I’ve noticed some news organizations will report on other news first or avoid reporting on the latest tweet all together.

Some journalists hold their heads high and try hard to report the facts and only the facts, without bias, even while the tweeter is insulting them personally by name for all the world to see. I’m sorry folks, but when the president tweets or speaks nonsense, it becomes news and sometimes becomes US policy. No matter how juvenile it makes him appear, news is news and journalists have a job to report it.

We all know that our president has an ego the size of Manhattan. That ego must be fed on a regular basis because it’s all that matters to the man. He has made it clear that anything unflattering reported by any news source is unfair and therefore fake. I cannot recall hearing another adult in a professional position, including a politician, use the word unfair so often.

I’ve heard from people who agree that the media only cares about ratings, therefore none can be trusted. The truth is, there are many extremely caring honest journalists whose careers and reputations matter to them. Of course there are those whose motives should be questioned, those who lack moral and ethical standards. But to say all media is fake (unless it flatters the ego of some in power) is like saying all politicians lie.

Nope, nope, and nope. That is a generalization that just doesn’t sit well with me. There is plenty of corruption in politics, absolutely. But to claim they all lie is a cop out.

I typically hear this argument from a Trump supporter, to make the point, it is fine to lie constantly because everybody’s doing it. If we buy into this and normalize the absurd lying, the claims that the media is the enemy of the American people, then ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem.

I admit, at first all this chaos, blaming, incoherent tweets and talk, made my head spin. At some point I stood back and took a look at the big picture. Some Americans truly want to believe that the media is fake. That way they can hold on to a belief that this administration is working for the good of the people. However, I believe the president of the United States believes his own make-believe reality.

Chew on that for a bit. He lives in a pretend world where he’s the best, smartest, healthiest, wealthiest, most popular, beloved man on the planet. These are his words that I’m repeating. It’s not fake news. His imaginary world is the real deal – to him.