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Editorial: Where has this election taken us?

At AuSable Media Group, we are proud members of the ‘media,’ as political campaigns like to say through gritted teeth. We take our role as community advocates seriously, and do what we can to highlight the best of everything Northern Michigan has to offer.

During this presidential election cycle we have watched as many of our national brethren have taken a public thrashing for inaccurate coverage of both candidates GǪ Some justified, but most not.

That being said, the way politics are covered and discussed online by keyboard warriors is worse in many ways than the blatant bias of several cable television networks.

It used to be that every village had its own ‘unique individual.’ That one person who everyone knows is a little ‘off,’ but not so ‘off’ that they were an actual threat to anyone.
Now we put a computer in their hands and they find a like-minded ‘friend.’ Add a few thousand more friends and suddenly, they are deemed a movement. And the internet goes crazy.

In the past, we had a defined sense of community. We pretty much operated with the same essential facts. Of course, we differed in the way we interpreted those facts, which is what politics is all about. The interpretation of facts.

What got lost in this cycle is the axiom that “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, No one is entitled to their own facts.”

Because of the internet, we have more accurate information at our fingertips than at any time in human history. But the internet also offers opportunities for con-men and women to create false narratives based on their own political leanings or financial benefit.

According to PT. Barnum, Joseph Bessimer, or even Mark Twain (depending on what website you search) GǪ There is a sucker born every minute. And you see them online every day, sharing mindless memes on Facebook and Twitter. Not knowing or caring whether the information is true.

Although we are a fiercely independent, driven and motivated people, the internet is making us soft. Many of our friends and neighbors have slid down the rabbit hole where they allow themselves to told what to think, who they should talk with and what opinions they should have. All based on ambiguous party affiliations and the conspiracy theory of the day.

As a nation, we used to at least entertain the idea there might be a viewpoint different than our own. Today it seems as if everyone is looking for a reason to be offended. That anyone who thinks or says something we don’t agree with is deemed an idiot, uninformed, uneducated or even worse GǪ the enemy.

That my friends GǪ the way we think about each other as Americans GǪ is the real CHANGE that needs to come out of this election.

Be sure to get out and vote.

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