We used to be looking forward; those have always been the good times. Now, we either look backwards, or at the immediate. It’s hard to be optimistic and drive in the right direction when you’re constantly staring in the rear view mirror.

Also: corporations and governments learned a lot from Nazi Germany, and Goebbles in particular. Not in the usual Godwin’s Law sense, but in how to manipulate the populous by controlling messaging. And they improved on it; rather than doing it through fiat, which breeds resistance, they’ve done it through good old Capitalism: the biggest media are owned by big concerns, and the messaging is controlled by editors.

There is free media, but that’s a mixed bag. That gets you InfoWars and Rush Limbaugh, too.