For many years "Fake News" has been the province of the right wing. Yes, left wing extremists used it briefly in the form of communist propaganda, but the alt-right has cultivated it as their favorite form of information. From denial of the Nazi holocaust to WMD's in Iraq to the "birther" movement to allegations that every prominent Democrat and dozens of moderate Republicans must be demon worshippers or molesters and cannibals of young children, the misinformation goes on ad nauseum.
The mainstream "liberal" press is not innocent either, misrepresenting the Affordable Care Act, at times, as actually "affordable," and largely avoiding the enormous impact of our lobby infested, fatally diseased Congress's collusion with crooked lobbies on hugely inflated Medicare and general health care costs. Their currently untreated and under reported form of Congressional "socially transmitted illness" has led to unconscionable prices for pharmaceuticals, durable medical goods, oxygen products and laboratory tests, not to mention phony hospital charges, not only for Medicare, but for all Americans. Congress's "social disease," manifested by their lips moving, does not even end for so many of them when they leave office for their well paid lobbyist positions or mostly phony propagandist think tanks This too is rarely mentioned, except as a passing remark in an article about something else.
Sadly, the main difference between the "mainstream" media and the alt-right "Fake News" seems to be their audiences. The alt-right conspiracies seem to be aimed mostly at virtual "ignoramuses," not stupid, but so self satisfied with their "heart warming" conspiracies that they need no corroboration no matter how far-fetched the ideas may be. Meanwhile, the "false" information of the left is usually more subtle and aimed at fairly literate individuals, including Supreme Court Justices, Town Hall attendees and people who at least try half heartedly to weigh both sides of an issue. That is the case, of course with "Obamacare," as it is called. All sides of the Affordable Care Act were examined in the mainstream press, Mr. Hannity. I, myself even published articles critical of the plan in liberal publications, but in the end, it was your Supreme Court Justice Roberts, not the press, who somehow blessed the program as a virtual tax!
Meanwhile, I have tried to explain to my right wing conspiracy theorist friends, that as the conspiracy themes become more and more bizarre, even their credible ideas will not be taken seriously by the majority of rational human beings. Worse yet, vicious rumors like "pizzagate" can lead to great harm or even death. Apparently, even Mr. Trump seems to have had a slight "come to Jesus moment," firing young Mr. Flynn who hopefully did not learn his conspiracy craft from his father, General Flynn. I think it's time for all responsible wannabe "journalists," like myself and even Sean Hannity of Fox News to start getting our facts straight and avoid the epidemic of "foot in mouth" disease so prevalent in the media these days.
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