You realize they’ve convinced us that we’re our own enemy, right? 

We MUST coexist between conservative and liberal. Must. We cannot allow one ideology to rule the land. It won’t work. This is America, land of baddest motherfuckers on the planet. We’re all different. And we like a good fight. Trying to force one ideology on everyone will NEVER work here. We have no choice but to figure this shit out. 

 

And it must begin with the acceptance that they’ve turned us on ourselves. 

Sure, there have always been multiple ideologies on how America should evolve, but it’s only evolved as far as it has because of this balance. In my lifetime, I’ve never seen the division we have now. Granted, I didn’t live through the Civil Rights movement, but in my view, despite our differences, we’d always been brothers and sisters in Freedom and Justice above everything else. And it was this mighty solidarity that scared the shit out of rogue governments that tried to suppress the idea of Freedom and Justice. No one fucked with us. We were the beacon of hope for people across the globe. We even have a statue at our easternmost port welcoming the oppressed. And when we fought, we fought the common enemy–injustice. 
*
Only now they’ve convinced us that our current enemy is other Americans. And they’ve used the media to do it. Because media can be purchased. And it’s expensive. So they’ve bought up all the tools of publicity and propaganda and shoved their messages of division down our throats to keep us distracted from the real problem.
*
And we’ve bought it. Because even though life here is better than in much of the world, making a living in the greatest free nation on earth is no picnic. It requires discipline, dedication, and steadfast focus. So when we wind down, we consume media. Movies, radio, internet, TV, etc. etc. And this media is peppered with messages that play on our fears and hopes and tells us what we want to hear as a way to convince us of things, and, yes, make us buy stuff.
*
I have no idea where we go from here. But I do know that the first step to solving a problem is identifying and accepting it. And right now a very small group of very wealthy people have turned us on ourselves in such a way that it’s going to take a miracle for us to pull our heads out of our assess long enough to see the truth.
*
We are not the enemy. We are Americans. We are compassionate, caring, innovative, and powerful as fuck. And they’re scared to death that we’re going to figure everything out. Which is why they keep digging that divide between us.
*
We’re a great nation, but we’re lousy at deciphering truth–and we’re easily manipulated. Trust me, I’m in advertising.
***
How to Write Branding Copy
Immaculate Beast

Jim Mitchem

Writer. Father to daughters. Husband. Ad man. Raised by wolves. @jmitchem on twitter. First novel, Minor King, out now.

FEEDBACK