opiate of the people

 OK, I'm finally starting to get it. I stopped watching TV about 20 years ago. TV is what rules politics these days, not just in the US, but in Russia and the Ukraine, among other markets. I didn't so much miss it as not credit its power, since it held no power over me, directly. But it holds power over all of us, whether or not we consume it, because of the power it holds in society. Donald Trump *never* held political office before he become POTUS, but he was a TV star. Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a TV comedy star until he became prime minister of Ukraine. Putin and other right-wing fascists hold power because they control the media, importantly TV. Marx called religion the opiate of the people. That was before TV. Now TV has displaced religion.

I've ignored TV so long I failed to appreciate the power it holds over most people, who would rather watch propaganda than turn it off. Fox knows this, and that's their business model.
I tremble for the future of democracy.

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