The Trump Administration’s War Against Speech Continued

 

As I mentioned previously, I do not believe that people’s use of “war terms” in their writing is helpful.

But I took a moment a few days ago and used the term… because I meant it.

And I’m going to say it again…

Dear writers, journalists, bloggers, and anybody who speaks… you are at war.

The Story 

The White House has refused to send its spokespeople or surrogates onto CNN shows, effectively icing out the network from on-air administration voices.

“We’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda,” said a White House official, acknowledging that CNN is not such a place, but adding that the ban is not permanent.
A CNN reporter, speaking on background, was more blunt: The White House is trying to punish the network and force down its ratings.

“They’re trying cull CNN from the herd,” the reporter said.

Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cnn-press-234455

This is not a game for us. People’s livelihoods are at stake here. Our culture is at stake here. Your ability to write freely, speak freely, think freely is at stake here.

Laughing it off, turning the other cheek, ducking your heads… aversion will not help you. The Trump Administration is the asshole bully in school who continued to beat the shit out of people even when they were down.
They did it because they enjoyed it.
Not to achieve a lofty goal.

And guess what, the Trump Administration is going to continue to play this game with CNN… they will claim that “oh CNN didn’t want us” or “CNN didn’t ask for comment” and “Oh well we never got the request“… they will offer plausible deniability. Never opening up a path to legal recourse for CNN, always leaving the facts unverified so that it becomes a he said she said story that other media companies can profit off of it, always cutting CNN away from sources of information and other media companies.

They’re going to continue to bully CNN for as long as they can get away with it.

 

Again – This Isn’t a Game

U.S. President Donald Trump opened a “listening session” on Wednesday for Black History Month by lashing out at one of his favorite targets for derision – the news media – complaining to a group of his supporters that most reporters who cover him are a “disgrace.”

Trump rehashed his grievances over a report that erroneously said a bust of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the White House Oval Office – a mistake that was quickly corrected but caused a stir on social media.

“It was never even touched. So I think it was a disgrace, but that’s the way the press is,” Trump said, calling the report “fake news.”

Trump returned to the theme a couple of times during the portion of the event that was open to media. He slammed CNN, also calling it “fake news,” but praised Fox News, and took one more whack as reporters were led out of the Roosevelt Room.

“A lot of the media is actually the opposition party. They’re so biased. It’s a disgrace,” he said.

Source: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15G59N?il=0

This is not going to stop.

Today it’s CNN.

Tomorrow it’s you.

 

And again – It is not a game… you need to recognize they’re threatening your livelihood…

Vice President Mike Pence will hit the Sunday show circuit this weekend, with stops on NBC’s “Meet the Press, ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” and “Fox News Sunday.”

But CNN’s “State of the Union” is noticeably missing from what would otherwise be a “full Ginsberg,” a term for when a newsmaker appears on all five major public affairs programs.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-pence-cnn-sunday-shows_us_5894bae8e4b09bd304bb14f0?mmaazwv2v52ricnmi

And again they go after CNN.

Do you see any of these other media companies offering CNN support?

No.

Instead they write about, make ad revenue off of it, but otherwise offer no concrete real world actions to help stop the Trump Administration from abusing content creators.

 

It is not a game, nobody is going to magically come to your rescue, you need to accept that you either start acting now and behave in an ethical manner…

Or you need to walk away like the coward that you are and keep your mouth shut… to profit off of an abuse of power is one of the most unethical things you could do in this life.

So you know what… It’s time to start making decisions.

Either stand up to power, or accept you’re a coward.

 

 

It has been brought to my attention that people can misconstrue my position against specific members of the Trump Administration as some kind of tribalism against conservatives or Republicans... nothing is farther from the truth. When I say you're at war... you're at war with Donald Trump and family, lil Stevie Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and the little people who see fit to play the part of their minions. This is not about political affiliations. This is about the abuse of power.

Update

The president now refers to the media as the enemy of the people. I feel like some people out there saw this coming… and perhaps instead of reporting sensational inconsequential nonsense like Hope Hicks being Donald’s therapist… a much more confrontational attitude should’ve been adopted. Perhaps a moral stand back then would’ve prevented this absolutely insane ‘enemy of the people’ nonsense before it ever started.

The world has to stand up to bullies. Playing along so as to earn more advertising revenue will only end with the destruction of our society’s values.

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