We Create That Which We Hate
If you build it, he will come.
– The Voice Field of Dreams
But, what if he didn’t build it? Was he coming anyway, or did building it cause him to come?
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. They left in 1989. Ironically they invaded on Christmas and left the day after Valentines day. Guess those Russians were romantics after all.
The Soviet invasion was met with resistance, the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen existed as a loose collection of extremists. It was the invasion that brought them together into a cohesive force. The United States, looking for a way to confront the Soviets indirectly, armed the Mujahideen. The US helped to build the group, but only as a reaction to the Soviets. Without the invasion, American military training and technology wouldn’t have flowed into Afghanistan.
After the Soviets left, the Mujahideen looked for a new enemy, and they found it in the United States. The most famous leader of the Mujaheen was a Saudi named Osama bin Laden.
President Obama was elected following eight years of Republican presidency under President George W Bush. Many Conservatives were worried that a Democratic president, together with the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, would limit certain rights, especially the right to keep and bear arms. President Obama, during the campaign, only heightened these fears when he made an ill-advised comment describing those supporting his opponents as “clinging to their bibles and guns.”
And interesting thing happened during Obama’s presidency. He did not, as feared, confiscate people’s guns. In fact, just the opposite happened. Gun manufactures did record business under Obama. Gun stores put up the president’s picture and called him “Salesman of the Month.” He was the salesman of the decade.
If the Democrats wanted to reduce the number of guns in America, electing Obama and a majority in Congress had just the opposite effect. The opposite effect again happened when President Trump was elected. People were no longer worried about the government taking their guns so they quit buying them. And gun manufactures stocks tanked. Some even filed for bankruptcy.
President Trump regularly attacks the news media. He’s fond of labeling any news outlet that disagrees with him as “Fake News.” He attempted to ban a reporter from the whitehouse because he didn’t like the station the reporter worked for. Not surprisingly the president hates liberal media sources the most.
Traditional print media is trying to figure out how to make money in a digital age. They’ve tried ads. They’ve tried subscriptions. They’ve tried paywalls. Apparently all they needed to do was elect a Republican president.
The New York Times is known as “The (Old) Grey Lady.” The president refers to her as “the failing New York Times.” It’s one of the epitomes of the Mainstream Media, also known as the liberal media. It’s the type of media that President Trump hates. And it’s doing great. Their subscriptions are up dramatically. And their stock just hit a 13 year high. They’ve increased their dividend and they are in the process of buying their house back. Ten years ago they had to sell their headquarters for a quarter billion dollars and lease it back.
President Trump attempted to destroy the media he hated and just ended up making it stronger.
I guess the moral may be, if you build it they will come. If you don’t want them to come, put down your hammer.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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