TERRY MOSHER
You know, social media is like the devil because it lures you in and allows you to say what you really believe without any consequences, such as getting punched in the face. It’s a great tool for getting out your grievances and it’s a great way to communicate with friends and relatives that would take much more effort and time if you sent a letter through the U.S. mail system. It’s also a great way for the devil to work his devious means against you. In other words, it’s a great tool also for creating chaos and discord if that is what you want to do. The Soviet Union’s Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev said in 1956, “We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within.” The current Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is on pace to make Khrushchev’s chilling words come true. It is believed by our security agencies that Putin’s aim is to create chaos and discord in the U.S. by using social media platforms to engage in false stories and propaganda with the direct aim of creating that chaos and discord. Putin hates Hillary Clinton because he believes she was behind the protests of 2011that threatened his grab for absolute power in Russia. So he directed a vicious Internet campaign against her in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, favoring Trump over her. The Russian hacking and propaganda was pervasive and overwhelming anti-Clinton and favorable toward Trump and it worked. American voters began to see Clinton as a bitter and deceitful person who had done criminal things through the Clinton Foundation and through the release of Clinton emails that had been hacked from the Democratic National Committee. One false story that started with the Russians was that Clinton sold about 20 percent of America’s uranium to Russia in exchange for $145 million in donation to the Clinton Foundation. That particular story has stuck with voters, even now. It’s not true, but still it was very harmful to her election chances and you can thank Putin for that. Something is still amiss with our cyber security. The Republicans have done little to nothing about protecting our election security and now that Trump has been acquitted of impeachment for asking a foreign government to investigate a political rival you can bet that he and his allies will do everything to cheat and make the 2020 election as fixed as can be to favor Trump. Everything is now up for grabs and our vote may mean little if a foreign government can change the votes through cyber hacking to favor one candidate over the other. The real goal of Putin, though, is to destroy America within, as Khrushchev predicted would happen. Thanks to social media platforms, he can do that. And if a presidential candidate goes along with his plan to benefit him, that’s all the better. We don’t know what Trump and Putin have talked about because their meetings have been clouded in secrecy. So what have they been talking about? Are they colluding to destroy us from within and build a dictatorship? Your guess is as good as anybody’s. The real devil, though, is social media itself. If there is no penalty for saying what you want – false or otherwise – that can lead to division among us. Friends turn on friends, neighbors on neighbors, business associates against other business associates, and soon you have a divisive society that is ready to grab a pitchfork and go forth to right wrongs perceived and otherwise. We have been divided into tribes and you can blame who you want, but I start with social media networks and add Trump and Putin as the main culprits. Whether they are working together or not the same effect is happening – we are being divided. There is a famous military strategy that goes “Divide and Conquer.” What is happening in our country seems similar. Putin’s disinformation and plain false stories planted on social networks is creating the chaos and discord he wants and Trump’s need to have enemies has caused us to be divided into those tribes —Friends against friends, etc. I know numerous friends or associates who are good and intelligent people that are avid supporters of Trump, much to my dismay. I don’t know why they are not able to see the bigger picture and whether in concert or not what Putin and Trump are doing to America that is cause for much concern by me. Some nights I lie in bed and think well these people will find out what I have feared soon enough, and other nights I think I have to fight against what is happening. Today I’m fighting back. I know I’m in a losing fight, but if I go down at least I know I have been true to myself that I never gave up.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.