Those were the days. When we had one shared set of facts, and civility reigned.
What happened to change that? The first step happened 30 years ago, when the Fairness Doctrine was revoked by President Reagan. The first one to take advantage of that was Rush...
Premiere Networks has announced that August 1 marks the 30th anniversary of "The Rush Limbaugh Show" in national syndication. In addition to discussing the latest news and events of the day, Limbaugh spent time during his three-hour show reflecting on the milestone. The five-time Marconi Award winner featured calls from listeners and fans, as well as highlights from throughout his radio career, including audio of his first radio job as a disc jockey at WIXZ in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1971. Limbaugh was also surprised with a call from President Donald Trump.
After Rush, came a whole slew of Rush-wanna-be's (Levin, Savage, Hannity, etc), and an army of angry followers emerged. After that, came Fox News, which directly targeted that same audience, and gave them a "news" product that looked completely real.
Slowly but surely there were two different sets of facts, which ensured that no discussion could ever be resolved.
A smart candidate realized that he no longer had to say true things, only things that were true to that one audience, and completely unbound by facts, he became the president.
That's where we are today.
