To the Editor:
(Cazenovia, NY – Oct. 2014) Have you noticed the increased use of social media, repeated and amplified by the mainstream news media, to create mobs that help achieve whatever goals the mob organizers had in mind? It does not matter if you are the CEO of a major company, a multi-millionaire, a major sports figure, a policeman, or a college athlete. If the mob attacks, you are forced to do whatever the mob organizers want.
Fake pictures and false statements have long been used to promote specific viewpoints. Originally, only governments had the resources to create propaganda that looked real. A few decades ago, the TV news industry acquired the needed resources. Today, a skilled user of affordable software can create fake videos and documents that support whatever point the user wishes to make. The fakes look real and can easily fool the casual viewer.
Our founding fathers knew the tyranny of the king’s arbitrary “rules.” They created a nation ruled by laws where you were innocent until proven guilty. They required your accusers to present their evidence under oath and subject to penalty for deliberately lying.
Today, we see the tyranny of government creating thousands of regulations that are selectively enforced to achieve political ends; and, the increasing use of social media in combination with the mainstream news media to spread propaganda to achieve whatever political ends the mob organizers have in mind.
George Puzey, Cazenovia