Best advice I can give anyone trying to sort through and obtain truth right now in the media:

No matter what you think your politics are, be wary of any reporter who does not seem to demonstrate an ounce of humility or openness to being wrong (or others being wrong)—constantly.

The wonderful classic psych text called The Road Less Traveled divides the two types of individuals of world seeking psych help into categories of:

Neurotics. Those who think they cause the world’s problems.

Character disorder. They think their problems are caused by the world

I am a classically trained journalist. Northwestern for school. Multiple newspapers and magazines and blogs for work including the Washington Post at its heyday of Style section reporting in late ‘90s.

And I am here to tell you that, unfortunately, journalism is done by humans.

This took me a long time to realize

Journalism is done by humans

Medicine is done by humans

Government is done by humans

Every person that clashes up against you and makes you feel a certain way...that’s because a human with biases & anger & bravado & defensiveness created it

Journalism is very populated now by humans who are contending with multiple factors:

A boss who has an agenda

A fear of losing job

The inexperience of youth

The fear of mass humiliation that comes with our current environment of weaponized shame as a means of social control

And there is a stripping of context from so much modern journalism that I see far too often that makes so much reporting just garbage

Does the prez lie? Yes most every business success and politician does. Mind games and humiliation and bigdicksmanship are taught in MBA programs

Am not defending prez. I don’t like arrogance. I despise lies and PR. But in a soft-power world stage competition, I understand the contextualized posturing that leads patriarchal dicks to act that way (& also the sometimes benefit or at least attempted reasoning behind behavior)

Do I wish Trump had the gentleness of sweet Jimmy Carter who agonized (& was roundly mocked on the world stage) for wrestling with “lust in his heart”? I don’t know that I do.

I do v. much wish reporters understood that so much of power comes from the tools of confidence gaming.