Huffington Post Irritant

I tend to use the comments on AOL in response to articles by their news source, the Huffington Post, as a barometer for public sentiment……and it’s predicting stormy weather. The number of comments that follow the mainstream narrative and accuse Republicans, and I mean ALL Republicans, of everything from destroying democracy to having no moral compass, is astounding.  An article attacking Santos, and rightfully so, for telling tall tales in his successful campaign to win a House seat produced the occasional non-partisan comment that all politicians are liars on both sides of the aisle. A couple of entries pointed out Biden’s tall tales of academic excellence and scholarship awards as an example. Liz Warren’s claims of Native American heritage being another. The level of vitriol that followed those posts was remarkable. Apparently, the public believes Warren is indeed Native American and frequent posts defended her as having testing that verified the fact. Uh, 1/10/24, to be precise. All the Democrat distortions, from combat service to helicopters coming under fire to having been to the border, were all defended with the usual claims of right-wing distortions and misinformation. Meanwhile, the Republicans were painted with a broad brush as willing to do anything to stay in power, their lies far worse and more repugnant than anything the democrats could ever conjure up. The blind rage, and vicious attacks, spewing the party line were like a mob out of control. And exactly who are these people with so much time on their hands to surf the net on a weekday and post their opinions? Unlikely a majority of them are retirees. Workers slacking on the job, or the 38% of able-bodied Americans who choose not to work, perhaps?  Government employees come to mind. There’s a demographic I would like to examine. Apparently, America has reached the tipping point where partisans are so entrenched, indoctrinated, and manipulated by algorithms feeding them propaganda, that I fear there is no common ground. And this phenomenon appears to be internet driven. But what will it take to pull this country back together?  Some cataclysmic event? A World War?  An alien invasion, perhaps?  Or maybe just pulling the plug.