It has been worse at times. They taught me in history that after a war, there is often a witch hunt. After WWI it was a Red Scare. Ordinary folk in Seattle were on strike as true blue collar folk will do, and the city elites labelled them "bolsheviks" and, "anarchists" and "Reds".

Spin and slander.

Back then, and after WWII, the federal government could get away with much more. Opening your mail and taping it shut before sending it back on to you. Etc. The US populace is smarter, better educated, and lawyers abound. While control freaks have computers to snoop, computers allow a free flow of ideas.

I'm not saying we have Utopia, just that it has been worse.

Then, there is the tone of AM radio. Nothing stifles a free marketplace of ideas better than cultivated contempt. AM radio's carefully crafted tone allows contrary ideas to be, in effect, shouted down. With mocking laughter, name-calling, etc. Similar to the way the city fathers of Seattle, in 1919, marginalized blue collar strikers with a manipulative witch hunt.

That's my two cents. Feel free to disagree. I can take it, 'cause this is America.