A new phenomenon has been seen in recent months that is both laughable and concerning. Warnings coming from alternative media and “conspiracy theorists” are being dismissed by corporate media and government as false up until the moment they’re revealed to be absolutely true.
We saw this in action recently with the lambasting of anyone who said Democrats were going after gas stoves. Those of us reporting on it a few months ago were called every anti-journalist name in the book. We were fact-checked into oblivion, “debunked” by “experts,” and ridiculed for fearmongering. Then, of course, we were proven right. Corporate media effortlessly shifted from “they’re not coming after gas stoves” to “here’s why you should be thankful they’re outlawing gas stoves.”
Some would argue this isn’t new, that conspiracy theories have been proven correct for decades, even centuries. But the new aspect of the phenomenon is how quickly the narrative changes. They’re not moving slowly, allowing years as they have in the past for old lies to be replaced by new lies. Today, they can shift in a matter of weeks. Sometimes they shift in days as yesterday’s “debunked” reporting becomes the accepted reality tomorrow.
Revisionist history has been replaced by revisionist reporting. Today, we’re as close as we’ve ever been to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.